Mood Swings
by You can be my secret keeper
Summary: He reached out slowly. Lily didn't watch but shivered as soon as the back of his hand touched her face. "Sorry, am I cold?" He whispered. "Why do you keep having mood swings?" Lily whispered back but didn't move his hand.
1. Prologue

"**Lily," Severus Snape huffed from behind her, jogging up to her, "Please Lily, wait."**

"**Sev," She said, using the old nickname, "I don't want you following me."**

"**Lily, give me a chance will you?" He begged and Lily stopped then turned around. He was stood in the shade of the large willow tree, black robes covering his tall lanky body. Lily avoided his dark eyes as she knew that they would be swimming with tears.**

"**Severus," She swallowed and could see him stiffen out the corner of her eye at the name, "Don't make this worse than it is."**

"**Lily," He paused and stepped forward into the late sunset. He twisted his hands together and looked back up, "I know you won't forgive me yet, but please. Give it time. Give us time."**

"**Sev," I repeated, "There is no us, I- I don't want there to be anything more to us when you continue to-"**

"**I'll give them all up to be with you!" He interrupted and closed the space between them, "I will, in a heartbeat!"**

**Lily, feeling uncomfortable, tried to step out of his enclosure but ended up moving sideways into the castle wall, "Sev, I gave you that chance. Everyone knew, everyone still knows about you and..."**

**She trailed off and Severus surveyed her, mentally groaning. He tried to wipe the image of the only equals he could relate to from his mind and continued trying to get through to his one, his only.**

"**Lily, please," He murmured and placed his large cool hands into hers. She flinched but did not pull back, which he took as a good sign, "I can't apologise enough for what I said, but-"**

"**But what?" She exclaimed, wrenching her hands away and wiping the traitor tears furiously from her eyes, "We be friends for a while again and then you slip- you say to someone- say to **_**me**_** that I'm a- a mudbl-"**

"**I would never, ever again-"**

"**But your friends would," Lily cried, combing her hair back roughly with her hand, "And they would continue and continue-"**

"**I told you!" He said again and grabbed her hands more desperately than before, "I would let them all go in a millisecond for you to forgive me-"**

"**I can't go through the pain again," Lily said, squeezing her eyes shut, "I mean, what, I'm fifteen and I've been betrayed by you so badly I feel like I'm an old woman gone through war!" She laughed lightly but more tears rolled down her cheeks. Severus exhaled and gently leaned his forehead against hers. Lily sobbed as a memory flashed past her mind.**

**Ten years old. Sitting in the park with Sev, laughing about the flower she was manipulating in her hands. Sev watched as she made it flap around, petals whirling and giggled. They leaned in together, friends.**

**Severus acted on impulse and while Lily gently cried he pushed his cheek against hers and touched her lips with his. As soon as he did, fire exploded within his cold mind and he wanted more of her, more of his sweet Lily-**

"**Get OFF!" She screeched and a sharp blow hit his face. She'd slapped him. Lily had slapped him.**

**Severus, caught off guard, stumbled back into the shade and watched as she almost crouched, heaving.**

"**No, no, no," He mumbled, "Lily, I'm-" He started but was cut off by someone else.**

"**STAY!" The stranger roared, jabbing his wand so long sparks flew the 10 feet, singing him, "AWAY!" He shouted again, walking ever closer, "FROM!" Severus fell to the floor and moved back quickly as the figure approached, "HER!"**

**Lily gasped as James Potter came to a halt, wand pointed at Sev and immediately rushed off, realising he must've seen the whole thing. She ignored the pleading person on the floor and the threatening person above and ran. James saw her flee and with one more loathing glance at Snape, hurried after her.**

"**Lily, wait-!"**

"**Get away from me Potter!" She said, running to the doors of the castle. James easily caught her up and followed her inside where she slowed her pace, breathing heavily and wiping moisture from her face.**

"**Why the hell did you do it?" He said eventually, boiling over. Lily stopped and he did too, both staring each other out.**

"**You think I wanted to?" **

"**He- he forced himself-?" **

"**Not like that! But you don't have any business trying to- to protect me or whatever!" She screeched.**

"**What?" James said, baffled, "He- you- Lily, just one week ago he called you a mudblood and now you're snogging-"**

"**Just- just stay out of my business, okay?" She yelled and ignored the tears again, "For once and for all, James Potter, LEAVE ME ALONE!"**

**There was a long pause where James looked at the girl in front of him, hair messy, eyes streaming and a horrible look plastered all over her face yet she still looked beautiful to him. Her harsh words however, cut through the infatuation.**

"**Okay." He said quietly and Lily froze. James threw her a look and said, "I will." Before walking away, wand gripped tightly in his hand.**


	2. Good summer, I hope?

Lily had gave her parents a quick departure and walked away. She was delighted to be going back to Hogwarts and she was probably the only one. Everyone else always wanted the holidays to be longer, but not Lily. Lily had always wanted them to be over as soon as possible. It's not that she disliked seeing her parents- in fact, she enjoyed that. Seeing her sister though, she did not.

What she missed most was the feeling of magic. She loved the butterflies raging in her stomach as she ran into the wall, the better part of her mind telling her she'll smack into it instead of walking right through it. She loved listening to the buzz of other wizards and witches alike. It was just completely different to what Lily had grown up with. I guess you'd say it was magical…

So with all this in mind, she briskly walked through the wall and landed up on the other side. Lily inhaled the smoke that the train had let out and smiled to herself, she was that much closer to home.

The train had finally started to move. Lily had yet to see her friends so she went straight to the prefect compartment, while doing so she found Remus Lupin walking the same way.

"Lily!" Remus exclaimed happily, "Good summer, I hope?"

Lily shrugged, "Could have been better. You?"

Remus smiled half-heartedly, he knew much about Lily's sister, Petunia. "Was alright, did you go anywhere?"

Lily paused, she always noticed that Remus would try and pry the conversation away from him as much as possible. Just as she was about to reply the train made a jolt and Remus knocked into Lily slightly, but steadied her soon after. She would of said thank you if she hadn't noticed two other people stumble too.

It was James Potter and Jenny Paul, and they were holding hands. Lily's eyes narrowed as the two started to walk closer to Remus and her.

"Hey-" Lily's stomach curdled at the fact he was speaking to her, after all that had happened. She lifted her head to retort only to notice him patting Remus on the shoulder, "-We'll be in the usual compartment, come find us once your done" and as quick as he'd appeared, he'd soon disappeared.

Lily looked behind her, eyebrows furrowed. James would never miss a chance to flirt Lily, let alone not even say 'hello.' Lily heard a chuckle from her left and turned to look at Remus who had his lips poised as if trying to not laugh.

"What was that about?" Lily questioned.

Remus shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about-" he looked briefly down at his watch "-we better hurry up, don't want to be late!" With that Lily put the questions about James Potter behind and continued keeping up small talk with Remus.

"This is my compartment then, see you later Lily?" Remus said opening the door. Lily smiled but just as she saw Remus close the door, a brief image of a familiar raven-haired boy kissing a blonde girl danced in front of her eyes. It was making her feel sick and she quickly walked away not even bothering to see who it was. Lily had finally found the compartment her friends were in and noticed both girls were sat eating some sweets. Lily rolled her eyes but took her seat next to Millie.

Millie was a blonde haired girl with deep blue eyes. She wore purple framed glasses and hated when people took them off, claiming she had small eyes. She was also tall for her age, not by much but she was the taller out of the three. Millie was the funny one of the group; however she just said that she had her moments

Becky on the other hand was the smallest out of the three and she wasn't bothered by this, she just disliked certain people saying so. She also had blue eyes but they were larger than normal eyes and she had a habit of dying her hair frequently. At this particular moment it was Orangey/Red but she was toying with the idea of it being green.

"Want my liquorice wands?" Millie asked, her mouth full and offering the paper bag, "You know I hate them."

"Then you shouldn't buy them," Lily said quickly but gave into the mouth-watering bag of treats and picked one up, "Thanks."

"What's up?" Becky asked, taking a wand, "You look confused."

Lily opened her mouth to burst into a big rant about James Potter but she stopped, mid-breath. It would be selfish to dump all her problems on them when they were two minutes into the train ride and had only just seen each other. She'd wait 'till later.

"Nothing." She admitted, "How was your summer?"

Lily sighed as the two immediately joined together with a big conversation on 'What we got up to in the holidays'. Millie and Becky lived just down the road from each other while Lily lived half an hour drive away, an hour bus ride away. Apart from Becky and Millie visiting once using Side-Along Apparation with their parents to see her (which they decided against after both vomiting) Lily's summer had been friend-free. Half-way through the ramble, Becky realised her friend was staring out the window, eyes glazed and she threw a liquorice wand at Millie to stop her talking.

"How was yours?" Becky grinned and Lily blinked twice.

"It was fine," She mused, "Nothing much happened apart from Severus trying to make up with me."

All three girls shuddered at the thought, but Lily most. She hadn't divulged them into what had happened the night he kissed her, she just told them she had an argument. It was a good thing they always had a horrible feeling about him though, because she didn't want anyone to try and tell her she was now wrong about him.

"Anyway..." Lily said, changing the subject. She decided to just bring up the strangeness about James earlier, whether they liked it or not, "Something weird happened earlier. James was with that Jenny Paul-"

"Oh, so it finally happened!" Becky smiled and Millie snorted, not capable of saying anything as she was munching on a chocolate frog. Lily looked mildly puzzled but carried on.

"Yeah, and he completely ignored me!" Lily said, chuckling. She didn't notice the looks being swapped between her two friends.

"Maybe that's because you told him to, in some words, piss off?" Becky replied.

"I didn't-!"

"Oh look," Millie interrupted, holding a card out from the chocolate wrapper, "Bathilda Bagshot. She's famous now, apparently!"

Becky and Lily both rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, I thought you wanted him to leave you alone?" Becky asked.

"Yeah..." Lily said, "I did..."

The rest of the train ride went smoothly. Lily was happy to set foot back in Hogwarts and currently she was walking with Becky and Millie. A group of Second Years rushed past them and she could hear a horribly familiar giggle followed by an even more familiar laugh. Lily's stomach contracted but she ignored the horrible feeling in her gut.

The Marauders started to overtake the three girls and Millie smiled at Remus out of courtesy. Remus half smiled back but made an odd noise, cleared his throat and looked the other way. She looked confused but ignored it.

As Sirius followed in pursuit, he nudged Becky's arm and she looked up.

"Ow," She joked. Sirius didn't even acknowledge her, staring straight ahead. Becky looked to Millie who shrugged.

"What's got into them?" Becky asked.

"No idea," Millie answered.

"I think James may have actually done what I asked..." Lily mumbled, trailing off as James strode past.

Becky and Millie looked towards the boys; they were now just entering the great hall. No one said anything after awhile, Lily smiled to herself; maybe this year would be a good year.

"This has to be my favourite part of the first term" Lily said changing the subject.

Millie grinned, "The food is the best I have to say." Lily and Becky rolled their eyes at Millie's antics but walked into the great hall feeling happy none the less.

Once settled in their usual seats, the whole school watched as the Sorting Hat and stool were brought out and placed in front of the teachers table. As the Hat began to sing, the first years, anxious and waiting, watched in awe. Some were smiling carefully, others chewing their lips or wringing their hands but you could tell they all couldn't wait to be sorted.

Millie was staring at the empty dished, eyes glazed over. Becky, trying to show some respect, sat hunched but at least watching the hat. Everything seemed to be the same as before however Lily couldn't help but notice the Marauders sat much further down the table, blanking them. She sighed.

Soon enough the first years had been sorted, and the headmaster gave his usual speech and the food magically appeared with a wave Dumbledore's arm. Millie sighed out loud as she plonked some carrots, roast potatoes, beef, and everything a hungry homeless person would desire onto her plate.

Lily's throat was feeling dry, it was also starting to itch, she looked down the table to grab a jug of water but in doing so she noticed Jenny and James. Lily didn't mean to stare, honestly. However they were just going at it. Right in public view, it was starting to make Lily feel sick. Forgetting about her throat and wanting a glass of water she pushed her plate in front of her, not feeling too hungry anymore.

A few people looked up, "Lily?" Becky asked puzzled.

Lily just smiled half-heartedly, "I'm feeling a bit ill... I'm just going to the dorms early. I'll see you there." Lily briskly stood up and began to leave the table. Millie looked towards Becky, "What was that about?"

Severus was sitting the other side of the room, moodily poking a potato with his fork. _Over done again_, he thought, sighing. He leaned his chin on his palm when suddenly a burning sensation, too painful to describe fired up on is arm.

"Ugh," He moaned through his teeth and stood up quickly, grasping his left arm. As soon as he did so, he let go, glancing around to make sure no one saw. Closing his mouth, he swiftly walked from the room, ignoring the stares.

"Oi," Sirius muttered under his breath to James and rolled his eyes when he continued with Jenny, "Oi!"

James detached himself, cheeks slightly red but grinned, "What?"

Sirius looked at Jenny who covered her mouth, giggling, but looked away, "Really, for one thing, we're trying to eat here. Secondly, look at Snivelus."

He said the last thing quietly but James looked over his friends shoulder to see Snape standing, holding his left arm. James and Sirius both locked eyes and mouthed, '_The dark mark'_.

"I'm gonna go... to the toilet." James muttered the lie unconvincingly.

"I'll come," Jenny crooned, giggling again. James winced slightly.

"No, doesn't worry," He awkwardly patted her shoulder, "Be back in a sec."

"I'll come too then," Sirius said and they both stood, Remus looking at them questionably.

"Eh," Jenny said, she flicked her fringe and went back to eating her food, pretending that she didn't care.

Sirius and James both exited the hall without much notice. They closed the door behind themselves started walking down the corridor. "Do you really think he's got the mark?"

"Without a doubt," Sirius mumbled.

James pulled out his wand and held it at arm's length, just in case. "I can't believe we've already got death eaters in Hogwarts"

Sirius shrugged, "Could be worse..."

James laughed bitterly, "How so?"

"Well we could-" Just as Sirius was about to continue James lifted and hand to silence him.

"-I think he's round there," he said pointing around the corridor. Sirius and James tip toed around the corner, poking their heads out to get a better look . Sure enough there he was, knelt down on the cold stone floor near the wall.

"Nice night, hey, Snivelus?" James' voice rang out loud and clear and Severus stiffened, pushing his sleeve over his arm, "Why are you missing the fun?"

Severus slowly stood up and turned around, watching James advance on him, wand out and Sirius following.

"I could ask the same question," He muttered slowly, staring from one to the other.

"Nothing for us to be suspicious about then, Sniv?" Sirius jeered, looking at his arm. Severus tried to show he didn't care about the obvious hint and raised his eyebrows coolly.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Show us you arm," James ordered, pointing his wand out.

"I don't have to do anything you two tell me," Severus sneered, silently reaching for his own wand in his pocket.

"Exactly what a Death Eater would say," Sirius said loudly. Severus jerked as if he'd been slapped.

"You'd know all about it, wouldn't you," He hissed, "Your brother seems to know enough-"

"-Oh piss off!" Sirius said getting annoyed, "Stop trying to make us angry and show us your arm." He instructed/

Severus glared, "No. Why don't you two go back to that stupid girl and loser werewolf-"

"Shut up!" James shouted furious, he flicked his wand and Severus was jolted into the air and in another swift flick he dropped to the floor with a horrible sounding 'thump'.

"Why do you just-!"

"What in Godric's name is going on here?" Lily shouted perplexed as she looked at Severus on the floor to James and Sirius. "Potter, you can't just go around hitting people with spells just because you-" Lily started, full blown lecture at the ready.

"You don't get it, do you Evans?" James spun on his heel, not giving another glance back at Severus. Lily stepped back slightly, "This thing of a person-" He continued.

"A thing? Oh very mature, Potter," She snarled.

"You're going down to who's mature?" James said in disbelief, "You don't even care that _he's _a death eater!

Severus snapped again and stood up carefully from behind Lily who also froze.

"What?" She mumbled faintly.

"I'm out of here," James said, shoving his wand in his pocket. He turned on his heel and walked from the room. Sirius gave one last withering look to Snape and followed.

"Lily," Severus started, moving towards her, "Lily-" Snape placed his hand lightly on her shoulder and without thinking she batted it away. Severus inhaled audibly, Lily eye's narrowed and she turned on him.

"You really did it didn't you?" She accused.

Snape winced, "I don't know what you're on about" it was a bad lie, she saw through it right away.

Lily looked disgusted; she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stormed off down the corridor, ignoring Snape's constant shouts.

"They've been gone long enough," Millie said, starting to get up but sending a longing look at the food on the table.

"We're not their parents," Becky said but she also looked out of the door both the boys had vacated.

"But they've gone after Lily. Snape has too. I don't like it," Millie said, chewing her lip. She stood up, "I'm gonna go."

"Ugh, fine, okay," Becky said, following, "But remember, they're not exactly welcoming us, are they?"

Millie just shrugged not really caring. Millie was walking at a fast speed, as was Becky. They'd exited the hall and were now on their way down to the common room.

"She better be okay," Millie said looking behind herself to catch Beckys eye. Becky sighed but didn't bother to look up, "i'm sure she's- ah!" Both Becky and Millie looked up, simultaneously.

Opposite them were James and Sirius. "Either of you seen Lily?" Millie asked.

"So what if we had?" James replied, crossing his arms.

"Wow, brooding over something?" Becky commented, Millie sighed.

"What happened?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Sirius replied stiffly.

Becky and Millie shared a look, "what's wrong?" Millie asked again.

Becky let out a frustrated sigh as she watched James look down and Sirius scratch the back of his neck. Both boys tried to walk around the two girls who stopped them again.

"Why are you acting so _off_? It's really starting to annoy me," Becky burst out, studying their faces.

"Well, go away then!" Sirius raised his voice, rolling his eyes.

Millie stepped forwards, pushed James back and said, "Tell me what's wrong!"

"Why don't you ask Lily, she's the one still protecting Death Eaters!" James spat the last two words.

There was a large pause while Millie and Becky absorbed the information just thrown at them.

Millie laughed, "Oh ha, ha...That's really not funny" she replied bluntly.

"Who said it was meant to be funny?" James replied and he and Sirius successfully walked past the girls this time, pushing Millie's shoulder.

When Millie and Becky had finally found Lily she was in the girls dorms. She appeared to be sleeping but that didn't stop the two other girls waking her up.

Millie took to shaking her back and forth annoyingly calling out her name every 30 seconds. Eventually Lily's daze subsided, "Millie? What's wrong?" She asked cleaning her of sleep out of her eyes.

"What's this about you and protecting Death Eaters?" Becky almost shouted.

Lily jolted up, very confused, "Who told you that?"

"James and Sirius," Millie confirmed.

Lily audibly growled, "For goodness sake..."

"Lily, what's going on?" Millie asked, it seemed like the seventh time today.

Lily replayed the story back to her friends who listened intently.

"We've got to tell someone," Sirius stated matter-of-factly as James directed them through a secret passage in the castle, "If Snivelus is a Death Eater then there's definitely more here. It's not safe-"

"I know, I know," James muttered and started picking at his thumbnail, "But we cant... we can't snitch on someone can we?"

Sirius stopped in the path, "Prongs, mate, this isn't someone pranking something. He's in line with _Voldemort_. Of course we have to-"

"How do we even know? We just think... Can't we just wait and figure out what to do ourselves?" James tried.

"No, we can't," Sirius said and they both started to walk, "From what you told them, Becky and Millie already know and so does Lily! And anyway, you saw the way he grabbed his arm-"

"Whatever! Let's just continue ignoring them," James said, his bottom lip poking out. Sirius stifled a laugh, trying to keep a straight face.

"Okay, okay, fine, we'll wait," He gave in, "Why exactly are we ignoring them? You never told us."

"Oh, right," James replied and they both pushed what seemed like a solid wall but was actually the back of a portrait. Stepping from the secret path, they sealed it and continued their way to the kitchens. Remembering the question Sirius asked James began to answer, "Well, i was thinking about Lily over Summer..." James ignored the laugh Sirius gave, "and i've decided that if she wants me to leave her alone then i will." James held head high in the air as if he was proud of the fact.

"Well... Why do i have to ignore them?" Sirius asked, curious.

"Why do you care?" James replied smirking, Sirius shrugged, "I don't, it's just they were all so easy to annoy, and now i can't, this may be hazardous to my life."

James just looked at Sirius and laughed, "sure..." came his reply, not really believing any of that.

"Anyway, is that why you're going out with Jenny?" Sirius said changing the subject.

James looked sheepish, "no, I do like her."

"Really?" Sirius asked shock evident in his voice.

"Yes! I really like her, I don't really see your problem with her." James said defensively.

"_Really like her_? You really like me but you don't snog me every time you see me!" He laughed and James pouted, "What do you like about her then?"

There was a short pause as they walked, Sirius looking at James, grinning. James glanced around for an aversion, "Oh, look, we're at the kitchens!"

Sirius looked to where he was pointing, "James, it's down the corridor."

"Let's go," He said, ignoring Sirius.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, tickled the pear and went to the kitchen. As soon as the usual swarm of elves disappeared, the two sat down eating bagels.

"What do you like about Lily then?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of bread. He snuck a look at James who was thinking but responded quickly.

"Her hair. And her eyes. You know, because they're-" He stopped short and slowly took another bite of bagel.

"Prongs, why are you now just in denial?"

"What?"

"You like Lily publically for ages, then she shouts at you which she's done a billion times before and you pretend you don't. You go around sucking the face off of _Jenny _of all people-!"

"You can hardly talk," James said dropping his bagel onto the plate, "You go through girls more than Remus goes through chocolate!"

"Wow. Offended."

"Well- Sirius, you- Oh, don't worry," He said, standing up and dragging his bag over his shoulder swiftly.

"More bagels for me," Sirius laughed as James walked out the kitchen.

Lily had discussed with Becky and Millie after telling her what had happened, however they all knew there wasn't much to do about it, not to mention they didn't know if he really was, even if it did seem probable. However Lily now was doing prefect rounds, by herself. She'd usually do them with Remus but he'd been ignoring her so she just decided to go alone.

She was just about finished, she was about to turn the round the third corner to get to the common room when she heard someone's footsteps. Lily paused listening to them, suddenly she had the urge to go hide but she didn't, not like there really was a place anyway.

Soon enough the person to who the footsteps belonged to round off round the corner nearly banging right into Lily. It was James potter. He awkwardly stopped and looked at Lily, his hair was more of a mess than usual, his glasses were askew and his lips were slightly more red. Not that Lily was looking his lips. Lily waited to see what James had to say to her, he wasn't looking at her anymore but running his hand through his hair. Lily contemplated where he could have been, she got to two conclusions. One, he had been having a make out session with Jenny, two, he was out on his broom. She hoped it was the latter.

Noticing that he wasn't going to say anything she decided to, "Potter."

James licked his lips and opened his mouth slightly, but then obviously decided whatever he was going to say wasn't worth it.

"Evans," He eventually replied curtly.

"Where were you? You know it's after hours-"

"I was just flying, alright? Jeesh..."

Lily swallowed and tried to carry on the lecture without faltering as if the information hadn't been a massive relief, "Hm. Well, you're still not allowed there at this time of-"

"I'm the Quidditch Captain, Lily, I can go out there when I need to." He interrupted in an exasperated voice. Lily made a mental note to check that rule but looked at him confidently.

"Right. Well," She said and it suddenly hit her that he'd called her Lily for the first time in that year. It felt strange but her stomach seemed to turn to jelly.

James looked at her and realised his mistake, that he was meant to be ignoring her. He knew, he could tell what was going on in her head and it felt like something inside of him was twisting, contracting. It took a lot of self-control to say, "I'm going to the Gryffindor Common Room."

He strode past Lily, making sure not to brush her arm and Lily stood still, listening to his footsteps get farther and farther away until she couldn't hear them anymore. She stared into the empty corridor and bit her lip as a few tears started to roll down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped her tears, why was she crying? So what? A stupid immature boy was avoiding her, it wasn't the end of the world.

It felt like it though, every muscle in Lily wanted to run, catch up with James. Shout at him until he told her what he was doing... Why he wasn't talking to her? Yes, she'd told him not too but over the years she'd told him to go jump into the lake and he didn't do that. Why wasn't he talking to her? She just didn't get it, she wanted him to, yet at the same time she didn't want him to. She didn't really care, she had no need to care. Right now, more than anything she was confused…


	3. Even Peter bloody Pettigrew!

James Potter felt something heavy land next to his face, his eyes quickly snapped open, Without his glasses he couldn't see very well, he could see that someone thing was on his pillow.

A book? He thought, he grabbed his glasses and roughly shoved them on his face. He was right, it was a book. Had someone really chucked a book at him? Looking around the room he saw Sirius loosely tying up his tie. James raised an eyebrow and the book, question. Sirius gave up with his tie turned round to James rolling up his shirts sleeves.

"Mooney didn't wake us up! Hurry up! I do want to eat before lessons."

James yawned but quickly jumped out of bed shoving his uniform on.

"Do we still have to ignore everyone?" Sirius asked after a pause, "It's kind of annoying."

"Yeah," James said, and then stopped, "Well. Not if you don't want to..."

"I don't really mind, I guess," Sirius replied, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, "Ready?"

"Mhm," James said and picked up his bag too.

They walked to the Great Hall and sat down in their usual seats next to Peter but noticed one person missing.

"Where's Rem?"

"He's talking to Lily - Peter paused and coughed - Evans" James shrugged and sat down, from the corner of his eye though he could see Lily talking to Remus, it grated him a bit.

"Why didn't you wake us up?" Sirius said grabbing some toast and buttering it. Peter just pulled a face and ignored him. Sirius let it go, after a couple of minutes Remus had arrived back to the table. He scratched the back of his neck as he met James eyes.

James wanted to ask what he was doing, but really didn't want to say anything. After all he's meant to be over Lily, even if Sirius didn't believe him.

"Why were you talking with Evans?" Sirius asked for him.

Remus reached down for his bag and took out three schedules, handing two of them to James and Sirius. "McGonagall gave them for me."

James didn't bother looking at his he just placed it down next to his plate, "thanks, but like Padfoot said why were you talking with them?"

Remus rolled his eyes and gestured to his prefect badge, "she went alone to rounds last night, didn't wait for me. I needed to ask why."

James wanted to leave it at that but his mouth just kept moving, "and why didn't she wait for you?"

Remus didn't even bother to reply, the bell had gone so he quickly picked up his bag and made an exit.

"Oi," Becky directed to Lily as they stood up with their bags, the bell still ringing, "What was that about?"

"Don't worry," Lily muttered back, glancing at Remus and then James.

"No, why didn't you wait for him?" Millie joined in, staring inquisitively. Lily was quiet as they joined the rushing of people exiting the hall until Becky and Millie directed her to an empty corridor, not caring which lesson they were going to or that they were going to be late for it.

"What's wrong?"

"It's not anything big!" Lily said, frustrated, "I just noticed they were off with me and I couldn't do with the awkwardness.

"This is Remus we're talking about," Millie raised her eyebrows, "He'd go out of the way to make you, or anyone for that matter, feel comfortable."

"Well, not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Becky wondered.

"Can't you see it?" Lily said viciously, "They're all ignoring us now. Even Peter-Bloody-Pettigrew. And it's my entire fault. Just let me get to... to Charms, will you?"

"Lily, shut up."

"We're your friends, you dolt!"

"Besides," Millie grinned, "You really fail at being angry with us."

Lily sighed, Millie was right.

"-And so what if they're all ignoring us? It's not like I really enjoyed being annoyed, I found it rather annoying to be honest!" Becky said and Lily laughed.

"Not to mention have you met them? There not that interesting" Millie paused for thinking time, "So really this could be a good thing for all of us." Lily laughed half-heartedly; that might be stretching the truth but it was all she had for the moment.

"You're right," Lily said weakly, "I don't care," she continued stronger. Both Becky and Millie nodded, all three went their separate ways down the corridors as none of them had first lesson together.

Once in Charms, Lily sat down in her usual seat and waited for Professor Flitwick who was actually later than her. It took her a while to actually realise she was alone. She knew her usual partner, Holly Finnegan, was actually ill in Madame Pomfrey's with a common stomach bug but she didn't realise no one was in.

_May as well be ready_, She thought and reached down to get her books out of her bag when she heard the door clunk open.

She looked up to find James frozen in the doorway, looking at her.

"Oh," He said and let the door go, running his hand through his hair.

Lily ignored him and bent over the desk again, getting her books. James sauntered over to Flitwick's desk and picked up a few piles of paper. Lily watched him out of the corner of her eye as he lifted the parchment and walked to the door again. Just before opening it he shuffled the paper.

"By the way," He shouted back to her, not even turning his head, "We're in the Library today, not here."

He then walked through the door, leaving Lily mid-way through arranging her textbooks and quill and ink. She froze, unscrewing the lid of ink and bit her lip. She didn't know why such a stupid thing bothered her but she let the tears spill over and down her cheeks.

Lily stood up, shoved her books messily into her bag and her quill, not even caring about the audible snap it made. She threw the ink back in too, slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out the empty room, steps echoing all the way.

Millie quickly walked down the corridor after leaving her friends. Not that she really liked Muggle Studies, seeing as she already knew a lot about them. Her dad was a Muggle-born so this was an easy lesson for her; however one thing she hated was being late.

She came to the door of Muggle Studies and paused but rapped her knuckles at the door and winced as she heard Professor Burbage's shrill voice shout, "Come in, and hurry up!"

Millie opened the door as the rest of the class had turned round to look at her. She bit her lip, "Sorry I'm late Professor..." She mumbled.

Professor Burbage didn't look very amused, "Right, not a good start is it Miss Johnston?" Millie shook her head, "Go sit down." With that she turned back to the black board and continued talking about the Second World War.

Millie looked around the class room, she noticed two empty seats. One was next to Emily Harold - a girl Millie was not very fond of, and Remus Lupin who status was currently ignoring her.

Sighing Millie took the seat next to Remus. For a second Remus looked as if he was about to object but then he let it go and went back to writing notes even if he was looking slightly more tense. Millie briskly got the items she would need, quill, parchment, she went to reach for her ink bottle when she realized she'd given hers to Becky this morning to write a quick letter to her Mum. Millie resisted the urge to bang her head on the table.

She turned to Remus and smiled, "Do you think I could borrow some ink?" Remus didn't look at her, "It seems as if mines been misplaced." she continued. Millie thought for a second her was just not going to anything, but after a few short seconds he placed another bottle of ink in front of her, without saying a word.

"Thanks…" she whispered.

Becky walked up the heavy creaking ladder to Divination, a subject she found most boring. Thinking about the best place to sit so she could catch up on sleep, she lifted the hatch and walked in. Professor Alana peered up through the various beads and feathers in her hair and looked at her.

"What time do you call this?"

_You the one that sees the future, you tell me!_ Becky thought sarcastically but looked around the room, "Dunno. Think the name is nine."

A few people giggled and Alana furrowed her brow, "Why are you late?"

"Y'know," Becky said airily, and started walking towards her seat, "Trolls... Dragons..."

"Pardon?"

Becky turned back, "Sorry I'm late."

"That's better," Alana lifted her chin and glared around the room, "Excuse me, Miss Fumagall, what are you doing?"

Becky, who was just about to sit down next to Alice, looked up, "Um. Sitting down?"

"No, no, no, that won't do," She almost mumbled and pointed shakily at a different seat, "You'll work better over there."

Becky glanced and saw she was pointing next to Sirius. As soon as they locked eye contact, he looked away and she realised he'd still be ignoring her, "Why?" She asked rudely.

"One with the foreseeable eye does not need to explain oneself," Alana said haughtily, "Sit!"

Becky stared at her furiously for a second but, dragging her feet, she moved next to Sirius who seemed to be very interested with his nails. As soon as the Professor started babbling again, Becky let her head drop to the table with an audible bang.

A few seconds went past and Sirius hissed, "What are you doing?"

"Proving that idiot wrong," Becky muttered into the musty table cloth but smiled inwardly as she realised Sirius had started that small conversation.

Lily walked into the Library a couple seconds after James. Looking around the class she saw her friend Lucy Smith, who smiled and pointed to the seat next to her. She walked passed a young faced Professor Flitwick who nodded as she muttered a "Sorry." Lily let her bag drop down onto the floor and sat down into the seat next to Lucy.

Lily looked around the class and briefly caught James eye but was the first to look away. Lily picked up her quill and then realized she had no clue what they were all doing.

"Erm, Lucy-?" She looked up, "-What exactly are we doing..?"

Lucy smiled and then went into great detail about how they were just researching new spells and writing the effects they can have on other Wizards. Lily zoned out after awhile.

"Lily did you hear what I said?" Lucy asked.

She smiled sheepishly, "Er, yeah..."

"So what do you think?" For some reason she seemed very excited about this question.

"Well no... I guess," Lily said no idea at what she was guessing at. =

Lucy's smile turned 100 watts, "Oh good, you see I thought maybe something was going on with you and James." Lily looked behind her to see James chatting to Henry-John. "However since there's not, I guess I can tell Jenny not to worry..."

"What? Jenny was worrying?" Lily asked really confused now.

"Well don't tell her this, but she was really worried that James didn't like her. Something like he was only doing it to make you jealous or something... but if he's not that's good."

Lily coughed suddenly feeling very awkward and she just nodded not really knowing what to say. She went back to writing her notes and was very happy when the bell sounded.

All three girls and all three boys were together for fourth period and when the bell rang, Becky, Lily and Millie walked to Lunch behind the Marauders, chattering about nothing much in particular.

"Bahaha, you mean Jenny did that," Millie giggled. Becky looked confused.

"Huh?"

"You said that Lily-"

"I'm pretty sure I said Jenny, Millie," Becky rolled her eyes.

"No, you said-"

"I know what I sai-"

"You obviously don't-"

Millie and Becky carried on the stupid argument and Lily zoned out, staring at James. He didn't have is usual swagger on as usual, but was running a hand through the back of his hair which annoyed her slightly but she felt a little flutter inside her stomach.

Remus looked at James and grabbed his wrist, yanking his hand away from his head, "Stop ruffling your hair, it looks messy enough as it is!"

"You sound like his mother," Sirius laughed. James shifted his glasses up on his nose and blinked but suddenly was attacked by something large and hairy.

"Um. Hi Jenny," James said as she squeezed him and his hands hovered over her back, him not wanting to place them on her. She felt him stiffen and clambered off him, looking inquisitive.

"What's wrong? Shall we go to lunch then?"

"Oh, we were actually planning on having lunch alone. Just us three," Sirius said, but after receiving a half-hearted glare from James he forced a grin on his face, "Hah. Ha. Ha."

"Hehe!" Jenny giggled and patted Sirius' arm, "Shall I just treat you like my pet? A little doggie?" She laughed again and Remus chuckled at the look on Sirius' stormy face.

"Uh. Actually Jenny, I'll see you later, hm?"

Jenny's face fell slightly and she looked over his shoulder to see Lily, Becky and Millie catching up. Jenny glared at Lily who looked shocked and then looked back to James, "Fine. I guess you choose your own company."

She flounced off and Sirius rolled his eyes as Remus looked at James, "That problems going to take a hell of a lot of persuading to make up for," He said and James closed his eyes shut tightly, sighing before they carried on to the Great Hall, Becky Millie and Lily behind.

Lily looked at the floor as Jenny passed her, knowing that the comment Jenny just made was directed at her.

"Millie, I never mentioned anything to do with Jenny!" Becky said, frustrated.

James overhearing this started to walk a bit slower. "Yes you did, didn't she Lily?" Millie turned so she was walking backwards but looking directly at Lily.

"No, Lily you know what I said, don't you?" Both Millie and Becky looked at Lily with a 'well?' expressions. Lily shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Both Millie and Becky made groaning noises but let it drop. Just as Millie was about to turn round and start talking properly she tripped on a bit of carpet, this made her lose her balance and fall slightly into Remus.

Remus not expecting this jumped and flew back a bit causing Millie to land on her arse.

"Ahh!" She squealed. Both Becky and Sirius started laughing not even bothering to help Millie up who was pouting. Lily stopped in mid-step and couldn't help but smile, James just looked agitated.

"Becky, you pushed me!"

"I so did not!" Becky denied, but carried on laughing. Remus took pity and extended an arm, helping her up. Millie stood but winced and suddenly fell down again.

"Ow!" She said and Becky burst out laughing again.

"No, no, that hurt," Millie mumbled and swallowed, a lump caught in her throat. Remus glanced at James but ignored the stare he was sending and crouched down.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Millie said but tears were swimming in her eyes. Becky stopped laughing and so did Sirius as Millie held her ankle, "It really hurts."

Lily chewed her lip as Remus leant forward and tenderly pressed her ankle as Millie looked away, wincing. He glanced up to Becky and Lily and then looked back to Millie. He stopped and saw her ankle already begin to swell.

"You must've sprained it," He concluded.

"Seriously?" Millie groaned, "From tripping on the bloody carpet? Oh for fuck's sake!" She said, her voice breaking. Becky almost giggled but grabbed Millie's wrist.

"C'mon, let's go to the Hospital Wing," She said, yanking on her arm. Remus pulled her other arm and Millie stood, leaning on Becky, whose knees buckled.

"Ah!"

"I'm not that heavy," Millie squinted.

"No, but you're like double the size of me!" Becky wheezed. Lily admitted, it did look comical seeing as Millie was tall and Becky was small. Remus supported Millie as Becky slid from under her arm, almost giggling.

"I'll take you," He said and looked to James and Sirius, "Catch up with you guys in a bit. Madame Pomfrey should be able to deal with this."

"Bye Mooney," Sirius laughed and nudged James, making him carry on walking as normal. Lily smiled half-heartedly and Becky waved to Millie who raised her eyebrows.

"I'm hungry," Becky said and Lily laughed.

"Becky, your friend just sprained her ankle, shouldn't you be worried?" Lily asked, rolling her eyes.

Becky ignored Lily and was practically skipping past Sirius until she felt someone hit _her_ ankle. She lost her balance and flung forward but luckily before she could fall over she gathered her balanced and turned round to glare at the two left over Marauders who'd stopped walking. Lily not noticing the sudden stop walked right into James who moved forward and glared at Lily. He gave a huff and walked into the main hall not even waiting for Lily's apology.

Sirius's mouth twitched slightly, "Be careful, we don't need another accident do we?" Before Becky could even responded Sirius had also walked into the main hall leaving both Lily and Becky glaring off into a distance.

"Um... Remus?" Millie asked as she hobbled along, her arm around his neck. She had the strongest urge just to check she didn't smell but restricted it.

Remus didn't turn to face her as their heads were inches apart so he just replied, "Yeah?"

"I know this is awkward and all right now," She laughed, "But... Well, why do you all keep ignoring us?"

Remus stiffened slightly, "What makes you think that?"

"It just seems like it," Millie added quickly, "Just... Y'know, last year James was all over Lily and now he's like a mute around her. And Becky says Sirius isn't speaking to her and well... You're not saying much either."

Remus contemplated on what to say without downright lying, "I don't think we are..."

"Ah," Millie winced as they turned the corner, "That's a lie and you know it."

Remus was silent again and carried on walking towards the entrance of the Hospital Wing. Once there, he explained what happened to the Matron who tutted loudly.

"It's carelessness, that's the problem! You're too clumsy," She moaned.

Millie rolled her eyes.


	4. Keep your girlfriend on a leash

It was the end of the school day, to which all three girls were happy. Lily had most of her lessons with James today, and probably would continue, but she also had most of them with Millie and Becky too so it wasn't all that bad.

Currently the three girls were sitting round a table in the Gryffindor common room, doing their homework. Well Lily was attempting it and Becky and Millie were copying off of each other.

"Lily…" Becky moaned crumpling up a bit of parchment.

"No, I'm not doing your homework for you." Lily snapped back.

"Fine then, forget me helping you out on charms." Becky replied.

"It's okay Lils, I'll help you out with Charms if you help me with Potions." Millie piped up, offering Lily and handshake, Lily shook Millie's hand and said confidently "Deal."

Becky made a frustrated noise and lobbed the bit of screwed up parchment across the room near the fire.

"Hey!" Someone's shrill voice shouted and she popped her head up from the couch facing the fire, "Who chucked this at me?"

Becky dipped her head again and Millie snorted. Jenny stood up and made her way over to Becky.

"What the hell was that for?"

Becky stood up too, to try and close the height gap. She was still smaller when she was upright but held a more menacing posture that Jenny actually stepped back.

"It was an accident."

"Yeah, totally, and it hit me by a fluke?" She replied sarcastically and Becky laughed.

"Yes, actually."

"Well I don't believe it."

"Believe what you want, but I really couldn't give a shit," Becky sneered and sat down again, facing Lily who was raising her eyebrows slightly. Jenny peered from Becky to Lily and smiled slowly.

"Well, you interrupted James and I," She said, drawing out his name and making eye contact with Lily, "So don't do it again."

She waltzed off back to James on the sofa and Millie broke the silence by saying, "Think I could still curse her from here?"

She waltzed off back to James on the sofa and Millie broke the silence by saying, "Think I could still curse her from here?"

"Millie-!" Lily said, horrified.

Millie raised her wand, and then paused, "Actually, better idea. James!" She shouted.

Lily could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as both Millie and Becky stood up and James flipped himself round on the sofa and glanced Lily but locked eyes with Millie and Becky.

"One," Millie started, "Keep your _girlfriend_ on leash-"

"-Two" Becky continued, "Can you not share that much salvia in public? It makes us want to puke."

James face didn't change at all, however he looked at Lily as if he was expecting her to saying number three but of course she didn't. James stood up pulling a appalled-looking Jenny up. Slowly both of them made their way up to the boys dormitory to go do God knows what and this didn't make Lily feel any better. Lily's stomach curdled as a few people high-fived Millie and Becky.

After another ten minutes of trying to do homework and the girls gave up and found themselves sat round the fire on the floor. "So I asked Remus why he was ignoring me - us" Millie said after awhile.

Lily raised her eyebrows, curious, "and?"

Millie rolled her eyes, "he said he wasn't! It's obvious now, they're all doing, even Sirius right?"

Becky shrugged, "sort of," both Lily and Millie looked at her, "I mean I think he's trying to ignore me but he cant stand not annoying me so he's finding it difficult. What about James?"

It was now Lily's turned to be stared at, "nope, he's not talking to me at all… Whenever he does maybe say something he seems angry." Lily could tell her voice sounded sad, she was glad that Millie and Becky didn't say anything about it.

There was a short silence that followed, "it's my fault."

Millie shrugged, "it doesn't matter."

"It's not really like we care-"

"I think you do care actually," Sirius said from behind the girls. They all turned to look at him and Becky did so fast that she got a crick in her neck.

"What are you doing?" Millie asked, watching him sit in a chair as Becky rubbed her neck.

Sirius paused, "Well James is upstairs doing something with Jenny I'd rather not listen to, probably arguing and Remus is studying, the nerd."

"So... you're joining us?" Lily asked and Sirius nodded, grinning.

Millie looked to Becky who turned to him, "So, is it true?"

"What?"

"That you're ignoring us?"

"Does it look like I'm ignoring you?" Sirius said grinning at Becky.

"Well, no?" Becky replied, getting a butterfly feeling in her stomach and se began to fidget. After a second or two, Sirius looked away.

"So, what exactly are you doing?" Millie asked confused, ignoring Becky.

Sirius shrugged, "Well, why are you talking to us?" Lily asked.

"I told you, Jenny-" Sirius started and Lily's features crumpled slightly, "Yeah, Jenny. Okay..."

Sirius frowned at Lily's reaction, but didn't say anything. After an awkward pause, Becky muttered, "Sirius, go away." and turned back round to face Lily. Sirius looked shocked for a second but then pulled puppy dog eyes

"Becky…" He whined, "You're not still bitter about what happened over summer are you?"

Millie looked between the two, puzzled and she raised an eyebrow in Lily's direction but Lily didn't know what he was on about either. She looked at Becky who'd gone a bit red but still hadn't turned round to Sirius yet. Lily looked up to Sirius whose eyes were now sparkling with something she couldn't put a name on.

"What?" He asked, not too shocked, both Millie and Lily noticed. "You mean she didn't tell you?" Sirius rocked back and forth loving every minute of it.

"Wait what? Becky what happened over summer?"

Becky didn't say anything; she was just staring intently at the fire.

"Oh yes Becky what did happen over Summer?"

Becky turned to Millie, "Nothing. Nothing happened over summer. Let's all just go up to the dorms, yeah?"

"No, I want to know what happened over summer!" Millie said, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Me too," Lily added. Becky just stared at them both as if trying to burn a hole in their heads.

"I guess I'll tell them," Sirius said happily after a moment, "See, our dear Becky here-"

"Sirius!" Becky said hysterically but he ignored her, "So where was I? Right, Becky and summer, well, basically- mhhpfft!" his voice muffled as Becky's hand flung over his mouth.

Millie moved closer to Lily, "What do you think happened?"

Lily shrugged, she hadn't seen much of Becky over the summer, "You were with her for most of it, did anything happen?"

Millie paused, "Nope, nothing that Sirius would know and I wouldn't anyway."

"Guys-!" Becky said from next to Sirius who was turning slightly red, "-Stop discussing me while I'm right here!"

"Uh, Becky?" Millie asked, "You might want to let go of..."

Sirius grabbed Becky's hand and finally prised her off, looking a bit breathless, "Thanks for suffocating me, Rebekah!" He muttered and Becky narrowed her eyes.

"Whatever, star brain."

"Wow," Sirius said as Millie giggled, "Great insult!"

"Well it's the best thing I could think of quickly!" Becky defended but started laughing at the look on Sirius' face. She covered her mouth, hiding it. Sirius reached out and poked her in the ribs, making her squeal.

"What was that for?"

"Nothing, really," He laughed and got up, "I'm gonna go find Rem..."

"Oh," Becky's face dropped a little, "Okay. See you-"

"Bye," He said and winked.

Becky watched him walk out and then pushed her fringe back, flopping back onto the chair. Millie and Lily swapped a look which she didn't miss.

"What?" Becky asked, "What?"

"Nothing," Lily smirked and picked up her book, "I'm going to go upstairs for a while..."

Lily left Millie sending knowing looks to Becky who was sat on the sofa, a little red.


	5. That's compeltely beside the point!

Lily had been reading in her bed for a good twenty minutes before she got disturbed. There was a tapping at her window, she noticed it was Becky's owl Basil. Sighing she rolled off the and opened the owl that flew in, then back out again. Lily walked back to her bed only to notice that the owl had dropped everything onto her bed. Lily began looking through the letters, she knew that sometimes Millie would use Becky's owl for letters too.

There was about four letters, two were for Becky and one was for Millie, the last one however was for Lily. She frowned as she moved the envelope in between her fingers, why would someone be using Becky's owl to send her something?

"Hey," Millie said as she came in the room and walked over to Lily. She absent-mindedly cooed to Basil and was stroking his sleek feathery head when she noticed the letter her friend was turning over in her hands, "What's that?"

"Hm?" Lily asked, "Oh. It's a letter for me... Someone sent it via that owl instead of mine."

"Huh?" Millie looked confused then picked up her letter, "Let me open this then to see if it's from the same person..."

Lily watched as Millie sat down on the end of the bed and opened the parchment addressed to her. Two pieces of folded paper fell out and so did what looked like a very old coupon.

"What is it?" Lily asked, intrigued. Millie picked it up from the bed.

"Hah! It's just a silly coupon for free Butterbeers," She laughed and then scanned the letter, "Oh, yup, Mum sent it to me... says she knows we have a Hogsmede trip soon and she found this so thought I could use it..."

"What's that?" Becky asked from the doorway as she walked in. She went to her bedside table and picked up a few owl nuts. Basil flew over to her and perched on her arm, eating them one by one. Becky smiled as he finished, gave her an affectionate nip and flew back out the open window.

"Coupon," Millie recounted, "Free drinks for Hogsmede from my Mum."

"Bless," Becky laughed and picked up the two letters to her, "From the handwriting, one from my parents and..."

"And..?" Millie asked as Becky stopped.

"Uh. Dunno."

Millie looked at her suspiciously but turned to Lily and asked, "Open yours then!"

Lily gently eased the flap of the envelope apart and pulled out the letter. It was more of a note and she unfurled it carefully. An untidy scrawl was in the middle, only one sentence.

"Shrieking Shack, 2pm, Sunday?"

"What?"

"That's what it says," Lily re-read the letter, "Shrieking Shack, 2pm, Sunday!"

Becky leaned over and read the note too, confusion written all over her face. Millie waited then took the note as Lily passed it to her.

"Someone wants to meet you. In secret."

"What?" Lily wondered and rubbed her eyes, "No way."

"Yes way," Millie and Becky insisted at the same time. Lily blinked.

"But-"

"Lily, think about it! We'll be there... take a risk! It's a school trip anyway, so-"

"No," Lily repeated, "I'm not going to even think about it.

"Only if-"

"Millie, how's your ankle?" Lily firmly steered the conversation away.

"Uh. Fine now. Madame Pomfrey just gave me a Potion..."

Becky moaned, realising she'd get nothing else out of Lily and flopped onto her own bed with her two letters in her hand.

"If you don't even try to find out who it is..." She began, voice muffled from the pillows.

"Becky, tell me again, who was the other letter from?" Lily raised her eyebrows. Becky turned her face the other way.

"That's completely beside the point."

"So is this stupid little note," Lily said, scrunching it up, "And I'm not going to follow it."

She threw it out the open window and watched it fall, feeling slightly satisfied. Becky propped up her pillows and began to open the letters while Millie read her letter properly. Lily sat on her bed, thinking about the note and why someone would want her there.

Becky had been tossing and turning all night but the fact that she'd been sent a letter again made it all the more worse; it was like should couldn't turn off her brain or something. She quickly sat upright after hitting her head trying to get comfortable and grabbed her wand.

"Lumos," she whispered raising her wand light to the clock on the bedside table. 1:05am.

Becky sighed and moved her wand light to the opened letter that sat next to a picture in a wooden photo frame. It was a picture of Lily, Millie and herself one Christmas when they'd all stayed at Hogwarts. Becky grabbed the letter and smiled to herself; she thought about re-reading it but then decided she didn't want to. She looked back and forth between the clock and the letter, knowing she'd probably regret this but she pushed her duvet back and stood up, stretching. Lily moved a bit in her sleep and muttered something, probably about James, but then rolled over again squashing her face into the pillow.

Becky smiled despite herself and looked towards Millie as she made her way to the door. Millie was sleeping on her left side, her mouth wide open and she swore there might have been a bit of dribble there too.

Pausing only to place her feet in her slippers, Becky shuffled out quietly, closing the door magically. She squeezed her palm and felt the smooth parchment crumple slightly. She knew Sirius would not be in bed at this time. She knew him very well. Walking down the corridors, she looked down at her blue pyjamas bottoms, dark blue tank-top and grey cardigan from her bed and realised she was actually quite cold. _That can wait for later_, She thought.

Becky tip-toed quietly down the corridors until she got to the painting of the pear. She tickled it and the door opened to the kitchens. Becky smiled as she smelt fresh bread so gave a quick, "Hello," to the house elf but briskly walked over to Sirius, who's back was to her. She crunched the letter in her hands out of frustration and tapped him on the shoulder. Sirius sighed but didn't turn round, "James, I don't want to-"

"-I'm not James." Becky said frowning, wondering why Sirius would sound so annoyed to speak to James. Sirius turned round to look up at Becky.

"How do you know about the kitchens?" He asked, shocked.

"What do you think you're doing?" Becky said holding up the slightly crumpled letter in Sirius's face.

He rolled his eyes but regained eye contact, "How do you know about the kitchens?"

Becky ignored him again, "I told you not to write to me anymore! And what was _that_ about earlier?"

Sirius looked annoyed briefly but then covered it up. He stood so he wasn't craning his neck and was now looking down on Becky, smirking slightly. Her stomach started feeling like it was flipping around and Becky was having trouble ignoring it. Noticing Sirius was standing close to her she moved back a bit.

"What was what about earlier?"

Becky let out a frustrated noise and crumpled up the letter into a ball. Sirius raised his eyebrows, "Rebekah, you're being over dramatic."

Becky narrowed her eyes at her full name; she looked down into the ball that was in her hands, "Over dramatic that I don't want you re-doing what you did to me over summer?"

"Re... re-doing what?" He asked, puzzled.

"You know exactly what!" Becky shoved him slightly and let the ball of paper fall to the floor, "You- you stupid-"

"Hey, don't start shouting at me!" Sirius said, holding his hands up in frustration. Becky narrowed her eyes and shoved him again and Sirius stumbled slightly into the chair.

"Don't pretend you have no idea what I'm on about!"

"But I have no idea what you're-!"

Becky almost screamed in anger and pulled out her wand. Sirius saw but wasn't quick enough and there was a small bang. He fell backwards a few feet and his head smacked against the hard tiled floor. The house-elves, previously trying to ignore the argument, all squealed.

"How could you not know?" She said as he rubbed his head. Becky ran a hand through her hair and turned on her heel to get out of the room.

"Colloportus," A voice said behind her and Becky tugged on the door handle, to no avail. She heard Sirius mutter to the house elves to go away for a while.

"Let me out," Becky said and turned around. Sirius looked at her as she raised her wand to unlock the door.

"Expelliarmus!" He said and at once her wand flew from her hand.

"What are you-?" Becky shouted as Sirius caught her wand expertly. She stared and then said, "It's late, you know, I could scream."

"Muffliato." Sirius said smugly and Becky internally smacked her head as she realised what he'd done. Becky turned to the now locked door and felt heat rise to her face but she ignored it and turned back to him. "Let me out."

"No, you didn't answer my question" He replied and Becky stared blankly at him, "How do you know about the kitchens?"

Becky clamped her eyes shut tightly and stifled a yawn as Sirius stood up

"What is wrong with you?" Sirius accused. Becky crossed her arms and didn't say anything so Sirius sat down and rolled her wand between his hands, not looking up. "Fine, ignore me. It's not like you can really go anywhere without your wand anyway."

"Sirius, truth be told, I can't stand being in this room with you!" Becky mumbled, hand pressed tightly against her eyes.

Sirius looked down to the crumpled up letter and back at her as realisation suddenly dawned on him. He closed his eyes too, "I didn't write back..."

Becky tried to reply but as she opened her mouth, a big lump was caught in the back of her throat. She knew if she did, she would cry.

"Becky, things happened-" He started and looked at Becky who had turned away, "-Stuff I couldn't... avoid."

She swallowed and managed to say, "Stuff like different friends?"

"Well yeah- Not like that!" He added hastily, "Ugh, I don't know how to explain it to you."

Becky turned around and walked up to him, "Just say it then, tell me any random excuse so I can believe it and go back to being friends."

"I'll tell you the truth-!"He began.

"Okay, fine," She replied and looked down at his hand. Gently, she eased her wand from it and he watched her carefully.

"I moved."

"But..." Becky began, thinking back to the letters, the replies, "But, I got a letter from... your family. Telling me not to-"

"God, that old hag wrote to you, didn't she?" Sirius balled his hands into fists. He looked at Becky again and said, "I moved out on my own. Ran away, I guess. James took me in."

"What?" Becky gasped as Sirius took a step backwards.

"Alohamora," He said quietly, pointing his wand at the door which clicked open, "Go back."

Becky looked at him but swallowed the information and walked slowly from the room, glancing back quickly. He was sat back down at the counter, head in one of his hands and Becky guessed he'd be there for the remainder of the night.


	6. When did that happen?

Lily woke with someone shaking her. She rubbed her eyes and mumble a grumpy "What?"

She heard Millie's laugh, "Hogsmeade, hurry up and get dressed!"

Lily's eyes focused to Becky who was wrapping a black scarf around her neck. "Is it cold?" she asked.

"Very, it's the start of November!" Millie replied, "Don't want to sound like your mother but coats are a must."

Lily just gave Millie a look and began to get dressed. After them all getting their coats on, they walked down stairs into the common room. A few second and first years were hanging around but no one really.

As they walked down to the village, Lily's hands started to become icy cold so without thinking she shoved her hands into her coat pocket. She felt something slice her finger and she winced. Neither Becky nor Millie had noticed, Lily reached in and took out the thing that had cut her. It was the folded paper, her stomach curdled.

"Are you going to go then?" She heard someone say.

Lily looked up and shrugged, "Probably not-"

"Lily! You-" Becky started.

"-I don't have to… Why do you look so tired?"

Becky pulled her coat close and a strong wind whistled through the girls, "I just am…"

"Hmm..." Millie paused but then shrugged it off, "Lily, go, we'll come with you…"

Lily looked between her two friends and sighed, knowing they wouldn't back down, "Okay. But come here a sec."

She pulled out her wand as Becky and Millie moved closer to her and muttered an enchantment quietly. They grinned as the familiar sensation trickled down their backs and glanced down their bodies, knowing they wouldn't see them.

"Disillusion charm, hm?"Becky smiled, "Nice."

"Yup," Lily laughed, "Okay. Be quiet and follow me."

The three girls, only one being seen, made their way to the shrieking shack. It was starting to get colder and the tension just seemed to be building. Neither Becky nor Millie had said anything to Lily that really motivated her, but Lily was now just beginning to get curious as to why someone would want to talk to her. She froze as she neared the haunted building and Millie tumbled into her.

"Lily! Walking here!" She shouted

"Sorry," She didn't sound sorry, "Let's go back."

Both girls grabbed Lily either side, stopping her from going anywhere, "Lily, we just walked all this way. Just see who it-"

"What if it's Sever- Snape?" Lily shouted, her voice quivering.

Both Becky and Millie looked at each other; it was possible that it could be Snape.

"My owl would never let someone as greasy as 'him' touch her." Becky said smiling half-heartedly.

"Becky!" Lily shouted frustrated, Becky shrugged.

Millie looked behind and saw no one. "How about Becky and I go check it out, if it is Snape then you don't go, if it isn't, you do?"

Lily was about to shake her head when both Becky and Millie sprinted down the path. She only knew because medium-sized footprints were being trodden into the now-falling snow. Sighing she went to go look for the note in her pocket, only this time she couldn't find it.

"Oi, Padfoot," Remus nudged Sirius from under the invisibility cloak. They were standing in the middle of the deserted path, trying to find some way of making sure snow didn't settle on the cloak when Remus noticed the noises. Sirius looked to where he was pointing.

"What?" Sirius squinted and then saw on the ground, little footsteps appearing and getting ever-closer to them.

"Who do you think it is?" Remus whispered.

"God, I do hope it's Snivelly," Sirius hissed, "But it's two people. Whoever they are, they know a good Disillusion charm."

"Sirius, get out of the way then!" Remus said quickly and tugged on his friends arm, towards the trees. Sirius wasn't expecting it and yanked the other way to keep balance which made Remus topple over. The two figures making the footsteps were now meters away from them but the steps started skidding, coming to a stop.

"Waah-!" Remus yelled.

"Moony, get off-!"

"Ahh!" A girl's voice shouted as she tripped on the pair of feet that seemed to protrude from thin air. Millie shoved her hands out to break the fall and Becky almost screeched as Sirius' head bounded into view, attached to nothing. Millie grabbed her leg though which in turn, made her fall.

A soft water-like substance seemed to break Millie's fall as her hands closed on the thin material. Becky rolled over Millie quickly and seemed to hover in the air, however she felt what seemed like a very manly body underneath her. Millie yanked the thing in her hands quickly and Remus and Sirius were now in full view as the cloak was pulled off.

"Who's there?" Sirius shouted and waved his hands around, holding onto Becky's shoulders. Remus, who was underneath both of them, managed to wriggle his way out but knelt on Millie in the process who yelped.

"Mi-Millie?" He asked and Millie staggered on her knees. She stood up the same time Remus did who was staring in disbelief. A small figure was showing in the air before him, tiny snowflakes outlining it, making it more definite.

Millie raised a wand to her face to temporarily break the charm. She showed her face briefly and smiled then let it disappear again, "Yup."

Remus looked shell-shocked but quickly bent down, feeling around in the air. He caught the top of Becky's head, then her shoulder and helped her up as Sirius clambered up, grumbling. Becky was seen only because she started brushing mushy snow from her knees and arms and it fell in flurries.

"Becky, I'm guessing?" Remus almost laughed.

"What are _you_ guys doing here? And why are you hidden?" Sirius demanded. Becky thought about Millie at the exact time Millie thought about Becky and it was as if they exchanged a worried look.

"None of your business." Becky said quietly and gently nudged Millie's arm who quietly started walking back.

"Hey, we can still see your footprints you know!" Sirius shouted over the wind and Becky yelled, "Run!"

"_Ostendo!_" Remus yelled, flicking his wand into the distance. Millie shrieked, further away but now revealed and carried on running.

"_Ostendo!_" Sirius repeated and as if a jug of water had been poured down Becky, the charm lifted, making them both visible.

"Sorry about this!" Remus shouted, "_Immobulus!_"

The charm soared in the air, cutting it like ice and hit both of the girls. They fell to the ground, rigid and Sirius and Remus ran up to them.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" He said as he got closer. Millie's face was frozen in some kind of grimace and Becky looked as if she was just about to blink. It was not very attractive.

"It's what James told you to do!" Sirius muttered, "If any girl tried to stop them meeting, just charm your way out of it!"

"Not like that, Pads," Remus squeezed his eyes shut and Millie and Becky both thought the same thing.

_James is meeting Lily. Something bad could happen and there would be nothing they could do about it._

Lily had given up when it came to the note; it'd probably just flown out her pocket It's not like it was really the most important thing, she was here now. Lily was squinting where her two best friends had run off into and was getting slightly worried now, she was sure already been well over five minutes. Lily sighed, grabbed her wand and began to walk off into the same direction they'd gone.

"Lily?" she heard a voice call but she wasn't even sure she heard it right. Slowly she turned round and lowered her wand, her feet making a crunchy noise because of the thin layer of snow. Lily narrowed her eyes, "Was it you who sent me the note?"

James looked innocent, a bit too innocent as he said "I don't know what you're on about."

"What are you doing here then?"

"Just walking, Jenny and I had a fight so I was just clearing my head" he replied. Lily thought back to when he'd said the same thing to her a few nights ago, "Potter, you don't have much going on in your mind. I really don't think you need to-" Lily paused when she saw him grimace, she continued anyway "-Clear it."

"You'd be surprised, actually," He said from next to her. Lily paused and turned back on her heel, walking slowly back to the fence by the Shack. James watched her and then followed her. He stood next to her, leaning on the fence and Lily had to stop herself from shivering at how close he was.

"Go on then, tell me."

"What?"

"What are you thinking about right now?" She asked but continued to stare at the rundown of the Shack. She could see from peripheral vision that he had turned to look at her, his large brown eyes watching, "And tell the truth."

"Well... I'm thinking about... when I went in that-"

"Wait-?" She interrupted, "You've been in there?"

"Yeah," He replied and grinned slightly as she turned to him in astonishment, "A lot of times."

Lily's mouth opened wider, "James Potter, I could report you for that."

"But you won't," He smiled and reached out to poke her. Lily stiffened and hastily glanced back out to the Shack, shaking her head to eradicate any unsuitable thoughts about him.

He stretched back out and then mused for a while, "I'm thinking about Jenny."

"Oh," Lily eventually said in a small voice.

"And..." James paused and looked at Lily Evans. Little white flecks of snow were caught in her gleaming red hair, contrasting darkly with the white snow starting to gather around them. She was looking down, covering part of her face with a scarf to keep the wind off her face and her hands, with petite black gloves on, were held together, a little too tightly, "I'm thinking about you."

Lily felt her stomach flutter but also felt a little uneasy. How can he say he's thinking about his girlfriend and then deliberately talk about her in a smooth voice that was obvious he was smiling to himself? Lily felt a small blush creep up her face and was glad the coldness had already made it go red.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." James contemplated telling her the whole truth and nothing but the truth, "Jenny and I... we're a bit... well, a lot rocky."

"Is that why you've sent me the note?" Lily said suddenly and her tone was hard.

"What note?"

"The note you took back off me and is in your pocket."

James blinked quickly, "Lily, there is nothing in my pocket-"

Lily turned and at once dug her hand in James' coat pocket. He almost jumped back but watched in amusement as she delved in both.

"Y'know, that kind of tickles-"

"Stop messing with me Ja- Potter!" She said crossly, "Empty your trouser pockets!"

James looked at her, eyebrows raised, but sighed, "Okay, Lils."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out nothing apart from his wand, "I have no idea what you're on about, but I don't have a note, nor did I write one."

"Then why are you here?" Lily asked.

"Well... to sort something out. But that can wait," He smiled and looked at her. She still had her brow furrowed and was chewing her lip but he reached out slowly. Lily didn't watch but shivered as soon as the back of his hand touched her face.

"Sorry, am I cold?" He whispered.

"Why do you keep having mood swings?" Lily whispered back but didn't move his hand.

"Potter, get off of her, now." A voice said from behind Lily. She span around and fell back into James, clutching his wrist in shock and he looked up to see Severus Snape, wrapped in a black cloak which was billowing in the wind, a small note clutched in his hand.

Remus and Sirius gave each other a knowing look. Remus carefully bent down to look between the two girls who were frozen.

"Erm," he awkwardly glanced to Sirius who was still standing up. "If we – er - let you go, you can't run off, okay?"

Remus looked at them intently and Millie began to feel uncomfortable under the stare.

"Right, I'll just take that as a yes…" Sirius crouched down as Remus grabbed his wand and muttered, "_Transferam._"

There was a bright flash and the two girls mimicked each other; they gasped then sat up, both looking very panicked. Millie and Becky looked towards each other then back up to the hill where they both knew Lily was.

"What the hell... what spell was that?" Millie asked in awe, struggling for breath.

"Well, you know," Remus responded smiling slightly at her tone. For roughly a second too long they shared a look. There wasn't much in the look but it made Millie's insides bubble. Becky and Sirius looked at their friends and rolled their eyes at the same time.

"Where's James?" Becky asked, she looked back at the hill then to Sirius.

"Why do you want to know where James is?" Sirius responded, curtly. Becky frowned at his tone but didn't say anything.

"Maybe because you've just immobilized us for no apparent reason, then changed your minds about it?" Millie said sarcastically.

"Sorry about that," Remus cringed, scratching the back of his neck. His beanie tilted forwards and Millie made an odd movement as if she wanted to replace it or go the whole hog and wear it. She retracted her arm hastily.

"What's he done?" Becky said, standing. Everyone copied her and Millie dusted the snow off her panda hat, shoving it back over her head.

"What do you mean?" Sirius said.

"Oh, come on, we all know he was meeting Lily." Becky rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the note was a little obvious." Millie added. Sirius and Remus looked at each other, both mirroring puzzled expressions.

"What note?"

"Sirius!" Becky exclaimed and tapped his head, "We talked about letters last night, okay?"

Millie and Remus swapped looks this time and both said, "Wha-?" To the friends but were cut off.

"I don't know anything about a note." Sirius said in a bored tone and Becky looked at him squarely.

"Why is James up there then?"

"Uh-" Sirius looked at Remus who was oddly still, "He's just... Checking out some stuff..."

"You're so easy to see through!" Becky almost laughed. She grabbed Millie's arm and turned around, "I'm going to-"

Before Sirius or Remus could even try to stop her, she stopped out of her own accord. Millie nearly banged into her but she looked to where her friend was looking. Her face went pale as she saw a figure turn the corner into the path and start walking up to the shrieking shack.

"Snape," She muttered.

Becky automatically said, "Lily," at the same time Sirius said, "James." The four friends all started running towards the Shack, Remus tucking the invisibility cloak into his pocket quickly.

James stepped in front of her so fast, he nearly slipped over. Lily noticed he didn't reach for his wand but positioned himself slightly more in front of her. She didn't like this, he should be protecting Jenny, not her.

Just as Lily began to think of something to say, she saw Millie come running into the clearing, her cheeks and nose bright red. "Lily! It was Snape who wrote the-" She paused as she saw them all, "Right, I guess you know…"

Remus, Sirius and Becky all came rushing up the hill to join them. Becky, not being able to stop herself from running, ran right into the back of Sirius who slammed into Remus who stumbled on to Millie.

Snape gave a vile look to the four that had just arrived, "You all really are pathetic."

"Yeah, coming from the one who is a Death Eater, now that's pathetic!" Lily didn't even realize she had shouted that, not until she saw everyone look at her. No one had thought that she'd have the guts to say anything like that, she figured.

Snape's posture changed. He didn't do anything like Lily would expect. He didn't slump his shoulders slightly, or look down. He glared at her next to James, his eyes like cutting knives. James saw this look and automatically stepped in front of Lily, cutting off the eye contact.

"If you really value Lily's friendship to you, shouldn't you respect her choices?" He said calmly, but glared at Severus.

"I've got nothing to respect when you're... _protecting_ her." He replied, his lip curling. Lily flushed and stepped in front of James. She shook him off as he tried to pull her back and walked towards Severus. He watched her, expression dropping back to neutral.

"Why did you want me here?" She whispered so no one else could hear her. The group of four friends watched anxiously as Severus blinked.

"Severus," Lily said, making sure not to trip and use the nickname, "What are you actually doing?"

"I-" He said back, teeth gritted, "I- I needed to talk to you. Alone."

"Why?" Lily said louder, so everyone could hear.

Snape looked cautiously behind Lily's shoulder and didn't raise his voice to the extent Lily had, "I wanted to talk about-"

"There's nothing to talk about" Lily drawled, "Severus, I'm not your friend anymore. Maybe… Maybe if you hadn't- If you hadn't messed with those people-" She paused as she saw him about to retort, "-and don't deny it. Either way I'm done with you!"

Lily began to walk back, she was a couple of steps away from him when she whispered, I give up…" With that she turned back around and began walking up the hill, "Goodbye Severus," she breathed.

Lily walked in the direction of Remus, Sirius, Becky and Millie to exit the clearing and James quickly followed, leaving Snape standing out oddly in the bright white snow, blanketing everything thickly now. James wanted to put his arm around Lily but Sirius sent a look which obviously meant, "You're not out of it with Jenny yet."

Remus, Sirius, Millie and Becky all paused as James went after Lily. Millie began to make a move to follow but Remus lightly grabbed her wrist announcing, "Let them have a minute, or two."

"But it's snowing, really heavily…" Millie whined, "And I'm cold."

Millie gave a mischievous look to Becky who just stared at Millie unblinkingly. Remus paused for a second then just opened his arms and said "Want a hug then?"

Millie didn't even nod or say yes she just hugged him right away, as if they did it all the time. Becky looked towards Sirius, eyebrows raised and a silent question prying in her eyes, _'when did that happen?_'

"C'mon," Sirius said and they broke apart, Millie bright red.

Becky looked at where the figure of Severus stood still, staring where James and Lily exited. His posture was held oddly, back slightly arched. It reminded her so much of a dark raven that she shivered. Sirius slung his arm around her shoulders, grinning broadly and her attention snapped back to him, not before she saw Severus retract his wand and cast a disillusion charm upon himself.

"Am I ignoring you now?" He grinned.

"Guess you can't anymore," Becky said and smiled as he laughed.

"Kay, let's get to the Three Broomsticks, shall we?" Millie piped up.

"So, we friends?" Sirius asked as Becky looked at her feet. Her shoes were gathering snow on the ends and she flicked it off.

"Yeah. I guess." She said and smirked.


	7. Looks like it's his time of the month

It was a few days after the Hogsmeade trip. Millie was waiting with Lily who in turn was waiting for Remus so they could go on patrol together. "Thanks for waiting with me by the way. Where's Becky?"

Millie sat down in one of the nearby tables and rested her head in one of her hands, "No idea."

Lily sat down too, "It's close to curfew though... If I see her-"

"James Potter, I cannot believe you!" A squawky voice shouted, a loud number of stomps following it.

"-Was that?" Millie asked and Lily nodded. And her suspicions were right. Jenny soon came trampling down from the boys dorms, nearly knocking a few first years out of the way. She began to make her way to the portrait whole when Lily shouted, "Jenny, it's ten to. Why don't you save yourself a detention and go up stairs?"

Jenny slowly turned round, eye almost twitching but seemed to swallow whatever anger she had. She threw a dirty glance to the pair of them and made her was up to the girls' dorm.

"Lily! I can't believe you just did that?" Millie giggled, a proud tone hinged in her voice. Lily ignored her as she spotted Remus also come out of the boy dormitory stairs. His hair was slightly messy as if he'd just woken up.

"Remus!" Millie called getting his attention.

Remus calmly walked over to them yawning slightly, "Sorry I'm late Lily, I was trying to avoid the cross fire up there."

Lily shrugged, "No problem. Want to go then?" Remus stepped back, as if to say 'sure.'

"Thanks for waiting with me again, Millie."

"No problem," she said flashing a cute smile in Remus direction. He grinned back at her and tapped two fingers to his head as if he were saluting her.

Millie started walking back towards her dormitory, fizzing inside. She ran a hand through her hair and felt herself going a little red. Every time he would take notice of her it happened. It was just the way his hair was neat with little flicks to it, the way when he grinned he had a tiny dimple, the way his eyes shone-

"Ah!" Millie said as she tripped over something long and thin. She stumbled to the floor but caught herself on her knees. She turned to find Jenny sitting with her back against the wall, crying. Instead of shouting at her she simply sniffed and drew her legs up to her chest.

"Uh... Jenny?" Millie said. They were not the best of friends. At all. But she felt a little sympathy for her.

She sniffed again and looked up, "What?"

"Um..." Millie said again but then turned to face her properly. She held out her hand gingerly, "Come on. You can't sit out here all night..."

Jenny looked from Millie to her outstretched hand, her face unnaturally straight. She slowly wiped her eyes and stood, leaving Millie knelt on the floor. Millie rolled her eyes mentally but stood too.

"What's the matter?"

"Ugh." Jenny said and her voice cracked, "Why would you want to know?"

"Well, you're sad." Millie stated awkwardly.

"Well done, genius," She said sarcastically, then paused, "It's James."

Millie could tell she was getting onto something, "What's he done?" She angled the question specifically so it sounded as if she was on Jenny's side. She looked back to Millie.

"Right. So I'm being perfectly reasonable-"

Millie immediately started tuning out of the conversation and nodded every now and then. She figured she may as well let her vent all her issues and regain her pride. She was just concentration on not drooling when Jenny said something that snapped her back to reality.

"So then I see him chatting to Lily, so I told him there is no way in hell that he can even talk to her again-!"

"Wait," Millie interrupted. She looked her up and down, "Are you seriously telling me you tried to _forbid_ him from even seeing her?"

Jenny stopped and looked puzzled. Annoyed, but puzzled, "Uh, yes. What else?"

Millie almost laughed, "You can't do that! Not after he's claimed he's loved her for what, nearly 6 years? And he still does no-"

She cut off abruptly and actually looked at Jenny. She was looking very angry again and Millie suddenly remembered why she and Jenny weren't even acquaintances. Her temper.

"So, you're telling me, he's been using me?" She asked, closing the space between the two with a step. Millie was taller than average, but Jenny's model-looks included height so she was looking down on her, "You're telling me, that this whole time we're actually in a relationship, that he- that she-?"

"No... No, no! I'm not saying that at all!" Millie said trying to dig her way out of the hole she created. Jenny's eyebrows arched, "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything; you're being paranoid."

Jenny mad a high-pitched squeal, _an overdramatic_ high-pitched squeal, Millie added in thought. Jenny shoved her shoulder so Millie stepped an extra two steps back, her back almost on the opposite wall. "It's you three isn't it? You're trying to break me and James up, so that bitch Lily can have him all to herself. Well you know what?" Millie was too taken back to say anything so when she heard a confident, "What?" from behind her she was surprised. Jenny glared at Millie and turned round to look at the voice that had just spoken.

"What do you want? Freak" Jenny snarled.

"I want to know why you have one of my friends backed up against a wall-" Becky said, then added a patronising, "-princess?" on the end.

Jenny seemed to be getting redder and redder, whereas the only thing that was red between the others was Becky was her hair. "I hate you." Jenny scowled, she then flipped her hair, looked Millie up and down and went into a nearby dorm.

"Woah, someone has anger issues..." Millie said.

Becky let her dead straight face drop into a smile, "C'mon lets go up stairs, and you can tell me what just happened." As they began to make their way into the dorm Becky said, "I don't think we should tell Lily about this yet."

The next morning nothing out of the ordinary happened. Millie and Becky were walking with Lily to breakfast and as Jenny pushed past them she just ignored them, although Millie whined for a while about her sharp elbows. It was quiet late when they ate, so they didn't get their usual seats and were far away from the Marauders, but Lily wasn't feeling jealous as Jenny was staying away from them too. The bell rang too soon and some Gryffindors' trooped to Potions.

Once outside, Becky stood next to Sirius. He turned to her and grinned, flipping his hair out of his eyes and her stomach squelched slightly.

"We've got that lovely partnering today," He said.

"What?" Becky asked and immediately remembered. She groaned, "Oh great. Knowing me, I'll get some utter head case like Norman."

Sirius and Becky both looked to the back of the line as Norman joined it. He hitched his backpack up onto his back, took out a tissue and blew his nose noisily. The few students near him automatically moved away, going, "Ew!" as flecks of mucus sprayed out from either side of the tissue. Sirius chuckled his bark-like laugh.

"Why do you like Norman now?" Millie asked, joining in. Remus turned around at the sound of her voice and laughed.

"Adorable. Norman is just – adorable."

"Anyway," Sirius addressed the two girls, "We've developed this spell. You know how Slughorn's going to make us pick a name out of the hat and that's our partner?"

"Yeah," Millie and Becky replied in unison.

"Okay. Well we took a look at it," Sirius nodded to Remus, "And it has to be boy-girl but we know how to charm it to be who we want."

"Really?" Millie asked.

"Seriously?" Becky said at the same time. Sirius grinned, "That is my name, is it not?"

Becky rolled her eyes and pushed him slightly.

"Anyway," Remus interjected, "This is so easy – just slip your wand down your sleeve and as you pick, say _Sumo volo_. You don't need any motion, just focus on who you pick."

"So yeah," Sirius beamed, "I know, thank me later. But Millie, you pick Remus and Becky, you pick-"

"What makes you think I don't want Norman?" Becky joked, eyebrows arched.

"Because I'm Sirius," Sirius winked and Becky pushed him again, laughing.

A few minutes later the class was lead in to the potions room. Slughorn was now standing in front on a big caldron that he was calling is "caldron of mystery". He found it funny while no one else did. Lily pitied him slightly so tittered along with a few other sympathisers.

"Okay, so girls line up on the left side of the classroom please." He said merrily.

There were a few whispers and clutters as a clumsy girl, Maggie banged into a chair that sent another one toppling. Slughorn grimaced slightly and asked, "Maggie can you pick first please?"

A few of the boys laughed, this obviously made Maggie feel even worse so she nodded and let her block fringe fall into her grey eyes.

"Bloody heck," Millie whispered to Lily, "I feel sorry for whoever gets her as a partner, she'll be dropping everything!"

Lily smiled, "Actually she's rather good in potions." Millie's smile faltered and she went silent. Maggie Thornmath stepped up to the caldron, not tripping to much surprise and picked out a name.

"Miss Thornmath, who have you got?"

"Mathew Horen," she said eventually. Mathew stepped out from the crowed of boys. He was a gangly boy who had sandy blonde hair and black framed glasses, Millie had a slight crush on him in third year which had been embarrassing according to her. Professor Slughorn directed them to their seats and clapped, "Right, who's next?"

Millie stared out along the class, chewing her lip absent-mindedly, when she caught Remus's eye. He raised his eyebrows and nodded towards the caldron slightly. She jumped slightly.

"Oh!" She said loudly and everyone turned to look at her. She felt her face flushing a little but said, "Can I?"

"Yes, come along, Miss Johnston," He said and Millie walked towards him, holding her wand in her sleeve.

She glanced at the professor as she reached out to pick a piece of paper. He was smiling and looking into the caldron so she grabbed the chance and whispered, "_Sumo volo_." Instantly she felt a small tickling sensation travel up her right arm, snake around her neck and then drop down through to her outstretched hand. She closed her eyes and imagined Remus's face, grinning at her last night.

"Who have you picked?"

"Um," She said, unfolding the piece of paper. She feigned surprise, "Remus. Remus Lupin."

Millie turned to see Remus walk towards her and Professor Slughorn pointed to a seat near the back.

"Miss Evans?" He boomed and Lily looked up, "Surely you want a pick?"

"Oh, um, yes sir," She replied and brushed her hair out of her face. All she could think about while fishing around in the parchment was, _Not Norman, not Norman, please not Norman_! She finally closed her hand around a neatly folded note and took it out.

"Who's the lucky man?" He grinned.

Lily looked down at the name in her hand then up to the group of boys, "...James Potter," She mumbled. He grinned and Sirius discreetly nudged him, grinning too. Lily refrained from rolling her eyes and when Slughorn instructed them to sit near their friends, she walked ahead of him.

"So," Millie smiled, "You wanted James?"

"Hm?" Lily asked as she sat down opposite them, a puzzled look on her face.

"The spell!" Millie whispered as James neared them, "Y'know. You got him because you said the spell.

"What spell?"

"Millie," Remus nudged his partner, "We weren't actually talking to her when we told you about the spell."

Millie looked from Remus to Lily and then to James who sat down. He ran a hand through his hair an smirked slightly to Remus who reciprocated.

Becky, at the front of the class, looked at the person standing in front of her. She was called Stephanie Jones and took the fact she was half-French in her stride. She was tall with long black hair that she swished at every chance she had and her model lips were always pouted. The only reason Becky was looking at her was because she was fluttering her long lashes in Sirius's direction.

"Can I go next?" She said just as Stephanie started to raise her slender arm. Stephanie turned to look at Becky who smiled as she narrowed her eyes.

"Of course, Miss Fumagall."

Becky almost sauntered up to the caldron and muttered the spell to herself. She stopped herself from giggling as the sensation shot through her body and her hand was magnetised towards a little folded piece of parchment. She grinned and said, "Sirius Black."

Slughorn looked slightly surprised, "But you haven't opened it?"

"Oh," Becky hit herself in her mind and quickly unfurled the paper, "Yes I did."

"Oh, okay," He laughed, "Then proceed. Why don't you sit with your friends too?"

Becky smiled as Sirius joined her and they walked to the back.

"Almost slipped up there, Rebekah," He winked and she mumbled, "Shut up!"

The sat down on the end of the three desks that were pushed together with their friends and just chatted amongst each other as Slughorn paired the rest of the class and started the lesson. Becky was very satisfied to see a disgruntled Stephanie sit down with Norman and inch away from him.

The three girls were walking towards the common room, "I actually feel sorry for him."

"Becky, its Norman. He's disgusting." Millie said.

"Hey!" Lily interjected, "You can act pretty disgustingly at time too!"

Millie laughed, "But you admit it! And he is disgusting, the sneezing snot. He once left all those tissues on my desk."

"Millie..." Becky warned.

Lily just continued walking ignoring Millie. Lily did think he was disgusting, but she wasn't the type to just say it. They neared the Portrait Hole and Lily murmured, "Freezing frogs."

The portrait opened. Just as it did Jenny can rushing out nearly knocking Lily out of the way, all three girls looked at each other and continued walking when they eventually heard Sirius say, "Can't you just dump her? She's way too paranoid. And clingy"

The three girls noticed that the common room was rather empty and guessed a lot of students must have left once they started arguing. No one liked being near Jenny when she was in a mood. The marauders however sat in their usual seats by the fire; Sirius was sprawled out on one of the arm chairs, while Remus sat on the floor leaning on the couch. James sat on the couch, his head in his hands.

"What happened this time?" Millie asked walking towards them.

"Oh wait. Let me guess-" Becky started, "-she practically bit off your head for being paired with Lily?" Everyone turned to look at Becky surprised.

"H-How..." James trailed, whereas Lily looked totally confused and replied with "What are you on about?"

"How did you know it was that?" Remus said closing his book to get involved with the conversation.

"Lucky guess, you should really hear some of the rumours going around."

James just sighed and returned his depressed position he was in three moments ago.

"Um... Anyway," Lily said, breaking the silence. She skirted around Remus on the floor and Sirius's legs, and then plonked down next to James on the sofa, "I have an idea for the Potions-"

James suddenly stood up quickly and looked down at Lily, a frustrated look on his face, "For Merlin's sake, can you just stop bugging me!" He shouted.

Remus looked up at James, shock evident on his face. Sirius watched from his position in the chair but didn't stop slouching. Both Millie and Becky stayed standing where they were but exchanged looks. Lily looked up in disbelief and watched him run a hand through his hair.

"Uh..." She eventually said, ignoring how his tone had cut her slightly, "What?"

"I just... Oh, forget it," He said. He ignored his bag and, stepping over Remus, stormed up the dormitory stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Hah," Remus tried to make it seem like a joke, "Looks like it's his time of the month..."

"For a change," Sirius grinned and winked at him. Remus stared back, not amused.

"You okay, Lils?" Becky asked. Lily just nodded at her and thought one thing. _Mood Swings._

Millie sat down next to Remus and Becky moved James's bag then sat with Lily.

After a lengthily pause, Becky said, "Y'know, Sirius, Remus, one of you should probably go up there and talk to him. Remus stared at Sirius who watched them all, a dissatisfied look on his face.

"Ugh. Fine," He agreed and stood up, stretching, "If I don't come back alive, I would like some red flowers at my funeral. If you find my body." He winked at Becky, picked up James's bag and left.


	8. Are you impulsive?

When Sirius entered the room James was laying on his bed. Sirius rolled his eyes and chucked James's bag at him. James, managing to catch it, placed it at the bottom of his bed and went back to laying down. Sirius sighed but jumped on to his own bed that was opposite James's.

"If anyone asks," Sirius said, "I came in here told you that you are very mean for yelling at Lily and that you should dump Jenny, okay?"

James didn't move "Whatever."

"Great," Sirius said stretching in his bed. There was a few minutes of silence when James finally gave in, "I didn't mean to yell..."

Sirius rolled over on his side and propped himself up on his elbow, "Don't worry about it."

"Shouldn't you be telling me I should apologise to her or something?" James asked.

Sirius loosed his tie a bit, "It's not like she's never yelled at you is it."

"Yeah, but whenever she yelled at me, I deserved it. She was just trying to change the subject." James rolled over to as he realized what Sirius was trying to do.

"She's still down stairs if you want to talk to her."

James squeezed his eyes shut tightly, "Do I have to?"

"Not sure. If you want her still."

James opened his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands, "I've done this all wrong, haven't I?"

"Hm?"

"Why did I date someone? Jenny of all people. Lily is actually starting to maybe like me. And I go and ruin it by letting her snog me every chance she gets..."

Sirius paused and watched his friend, "Bet you didn't mind that part though?"

James grinned for a second and then turned to Sirius, "Okay, Pads?"

"Prongs?" Sirius said, over the top on sincerity. James ignored him.

"How do you dump girls?"

"Oh!" Sirius said and sat up straight. James watched him, "Okay, you have to let them down gently. None of the 'it's not you, it's me!" or 'you're too good for me' crap though. Just say it's not working out."

"It's not working out..." James repeated and then he sat up too, "Then what?"

"Okay, so you be you, and I'll be Jenny!" Sirius said enthusiastically. He ducked his head and then looked up at James. He was fluttering his eyelashes, his lips were pouting and he swished his hair over his shoulder. James watched in horror.

"Hello Jamesie pie-"

"Sirius!" James interrupted, "Don't ever put that look on your face again!"

Sirius laughed and encouraged him, "Okay, what would you say?"

"Um..." James raised an eyebrow, "Jenny..? Uh. It's not working out..."

Sirius looked shocked and continued acting as Jenny, "Whatever do you mean?"

James stood up, "You know what, forget it, it isn't working. I'll just tell her myself."

"Now?" Sirius asked as his friend walked to the door.

"Yeah. Now." He gulped and reached out for the handle.

"Apologise to Lily first!"

"Okay, okay," James muttered and walked out, leaving Sirius perched on his bed, still pouting.

James slowly walked down the stairs. He stopped a third year on the way and asked him if he would check that Jenny wasn't around, and that Lily was. James knew the third year was called Daniel and he liked James because of his Quidditch skills so it wasn't a surprise Daniel was quick to agree. After three long minutes of waiting in the slightly enclosed staircase, the third year finally came back.

"Lily's down there with her friends and Remus, but I didn't see Jenny," He panted. James smiled and thanked him, then went down stairs. Remus was the first to see him and he looked surprised.

James pointed to Lily, and then back to himself but Remus however didn't understand what he was trying to say. James sighed and motioned for himself, Becky and Millie to leave.

"Oh!" Remus said out loud.

"Huh?" Millie asked. Remus just laughed and said, "Erm, nothing. Hey, Millie, do you remember that book I was telling you about?"

Millie looked really confused for a second but then noticed Remus was doing a strange head movement. She followed his eyes and saw James who was looking panicked. She caught on.

"Oh, yeah! What about it?"

"I finally found it want to go up stairs and look at it?"

Millie briskly stood up and nodded, as she caught Becky's eye she motioned with her hand towards James. Becky seeing this nodded, "I need to go check on Basil," She said to Lily who looked surprised.

"Oh, do you want me to-"

"NO!" Becky said hastily and Lily looked a little hurt.

"Oh..."

"No no, I just mean it'll only take a sec and anyway she might get spooked... or something." Becky said slowly backing away. As Remus passed James, Millie following, he whispered a brief, "Good luck mate."

Lily watched Becky walk slowly out of the Portrait Hole and then looked back to her books she'd got out of her lap. The fire was flickering out of the corner of her eye, glowing orange onto the pages of Advanced Potion Making. She sighed and grabbed the book, her parchment, quill and ink and stood up, dropping them into her satchel.

She froze and looked up. She had turned to get her bag and now in front of her, James stood nervously in the archway that led to the stairs.

"Lily?" He asked and walked towards her. She half-smiled at him.

"Don't worry about earlier."

"I know I was a complete-" He started and then realised what she had said. She'd just brushed it aside.

"What?" She asked.

James mentally shook his head, "Sorry – for snapping at you and... stuff."

Lily nodded, "Don't worry." She replied curtly and edged around the sofa to go to the girls dormitories.

"Wait, I wanted to tell you something else-" James rambled quickly.

"What?" She repeated.

"Um, well..." He said and closed the gap between them slowly, "I want to end it. With Jenny."

Lily's stomach fizzed and whirled for some unknown reason. Her mouth fell open slightly which made James chuckle. He automatically lifted a hand and brushed her cheek. She was focusing on not going red and stopping herself from kissing him right there.

"Careful," He said, smiling and looking at her lips. He gently pushed her mouth shut, "You'll catch a fly like that.

Lily swallowed and her voice came out no more than a whisper, "Why do you keep doing this?"

"What?" He mirrored her. His hand stayed on her cheek and Lily couldn't help concentrating on how soft it felt.

"You keep... changing your mind about me. It's been a few months and you're ignoring me on and off."

"You told me to leave you alone," He said and looked into her eyes. She looked down and James's hand moved towards her neck, his fingers entwined with her hair.

"James, you can't do this," Lily said and moved his hand with hers, "You can't string me along like this. It's unfair to me. And to Jenny."

"Lily, I'm not-"

"James, I really can't do this with you. Thank you for apologizing but if you don't mind i think i'll be going to bed now." Lily closed her book and looked at James who nodded, "eh, okay.. Night Lily.."

Lily stood up and walked to the dorm, she didn't even glance back at him, just continued walking up. As she got in to her room she began to feel her eyes well up, breathing in deeply she laid down trying not to think about James Potter.

Remus had led Millie up to his and the rest of the Marauders dorms. "I'd just like to say Peters side is the messiest.

"Millie just laughed. "I'm sure it is.." Millie opened the door and peeked in, Sirius looked up from his bed and then rolled his eyes, "hey Johnston."

Remus pushed lightly on the door so it opened wider and walked in, "you did a good job, he went right down."

"You mean none of you even had faith in me?" Sirius said mock hurt.

"Pretty much, yeah." Millie replied, Remus chuckled while Sirius scowled.

"You sure know how to pick them Remus" Sirius said jumping up making his way to the door, ignoring the 'Whats' from both Millie and Remus, "where did Becky go?"

"Owlery" Remus said, a pink tinge to his cheeks. Sirius nodded and closed the door behind him. "Sorry, i don't know what goes on with him half the time."

"oh it's.. aha, don't worry." Millie felt like she could just die. Why did Sirius have to say that...

Sirius trudged down the stairs, admittedly a little sourly. He wondered how it was so easy for Remus to just have a good girl like without having to do anything while Sirius himself had gone through tonnes of girls, never satisfied and now the one he liked was just being distant. He got to the Common Room and saw James leaning against the sofa.

"How'd it go?" He asked and James snapped his head up, surprised. His features went back to normal and he shrugged.

"Okay. Ish."

"What happened?" Sirius asked and walked over to him. James shrugged again and Sirius said, "Look Prongs, I'm on my way to go find Becky, so just tell me."

"Nothing bad," James said, "Well, a little bad."

"Prongs," Sirius said squarely and stood directly in front of him, "I'm not a mind reader, nor do I pretend to be one. What happened?"

"I told her I was sorry and she accepted it," James recounted, "Then when I told her about Jenny, she got all... all squirmy. And she just walked away."

"Uh... Well, James, I can't really say anything about that..." He said hopelessly. James looked up, rolled his eyes and made his way to the stairs for the second time that night. Sirius called back, "I wouldn't! Remus has finally got a girl up there," He laughed.

"But- Oh, fine," He sighed and sat back down on the couch, "How long will you be?"

"Well, I'd prefer to be hours."

"Why?" James questioned. Sirius grinned mischievously.

"Well, you're on your way to getting Lily and Remus has basically got Millie already... I think I may be ready to settle down."

James shook his head in disbelief, grinning, "Never thought I'd hear that. Okay, good luck."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows and almost bounded out of the common room.

Becky was still trudging her way up to the Owlery, going deliberately slow. She had no real reason to go there and was a little bummed that Millie had just gone off with Remus like that. As she was walking, she was imagining what would happen if her life turned into a movie moment and Millie turned against her for a boy. They'd totally make it up in the end.

She walked up the narrow stone stairs, hand trailing on the banister. The familiar sound of hoots, rustling wings and things being knocked over got louder as she ascended and she smiled to herself. As soon as she walked through the arched doorway, there was a loud chirping and Basil flew to her, landing on Becky's shoulder.

"Hey," She said absent-mindedly and stroked his soft head. He nudged her hand in affection with his beak and then flew back to the perch he usually took. Becky walked towards the window and leant against the wall, looking out onto the grounds. She figured she'd give them five minutes before slowly walking back again.

Without any method of telling the time, she started to get bored as seconds dragged by. To entertain herself, she started day dreaming about food which led to the kitchens which led to Sirius, sitting in the kitchen, arguing with her.

Sirius got out of the Common Room when he heard the Fat Lady say, "You know, you really shouldn't be out at this time..." But he ignored her and continued. He shoved his hands in his pocket and immediately grabbed the invisibility cloak. Grinning about the fact he forgot to give it back to James, Sirius pulled it out and threw it over himself.

He walked around the school easily for after hours. At one point he thought he heard Mrs Norris, Filtch's cat, but it was just a younger Ravenclaw's, as she was scrambling after it. Resisting the urge to scare her, Sirius made his way to the Owlery quickly.

Becky had completely given up on waiting, if Lily and James hadn't done the kiss and make up thing it wasn't her problem. She was still walking at a slow speed though. While walking down she was really starting to notice how dark it had gotten.

"It must be past curfew" she mumbled and because of this Becky began to stick close to the shadows. Of course this didn't go quite to plan once her imagination got in the way. After being freaked out by one of the ghost she decided that it would just be best to walk fast, think later.

It obviously didn't work as without meaning to Becky banged into a suit of armour which toppled to the ground. "Shit!" She yelped, as the clashing just seemed to echo through the corridor. Becky stood looking at it for what seemed like forever until she heard the voice of Filtch shouting, "Who's here?" Becky panicking did the first thing she could think of; she bolted.

Sirius neared the last corner until he would come to the Owlery when suddenly a massive clash reverberated throughout the corridors. He froze and heard a recognisable person cursing then Filtch shout out loud.

Without thinking about it, he immediately rushed after the footsteps that were heading_ towards_ the shouting and, turning the corner, he saw Becky running ahead of her, her robes billowing out behind her. He didn't risk shouting, so built up all the speed he had and sprinted towards her.

Becky was slowing down anyway; it seemed that it'd dawned on her in which direction she was heading. Sirius sped up as both he and Becky saw a faint amber light getting brighter and they knew it was Filtch approaching. Sirius was now meters behind Becky and as a cat's head protruded from around the wall, he jumped, knocking Becky into the wall and slammed his hand over her mouth tightly.

She didn't protest for as soon as she felt someone shove her, a translucent silky material covered her view and she distinctly remembered it from the incident in Hogsmede. Although she would never admit it out loud, the scent of vanilla washed over her and she realised exactly who it was.

"Who's there?" Demanded Filtch as he rounded the corner, an oil lamp swinging from his hand. Becky froze in the odd position she was in and Sirius breathed into her ear, "Don't move."

Filtch poked around for a while before he saw the suit of armour. He groaned loudly and hobbled over to it, muttering and Sirius whispered again, "He's going over there. Okay, we're going to move slowly away." Becky shivered as his breath tickled her neck and she could tell he was grinning.

Becky could feel her face getting warmer and was thankful for the dim light, however she was pretty sure Sirius wasn't concentrating on the redness of her face. Becky looked to the side. Filtch was walking down the corridor, heals clopping on the wooden flooring and he was carrying bits of the armour. Becky suddenly felt guilty for just running off, but there was no way she could help him without getting caught and with the position she was in now there was no way Sirius would just let her walk out and apologize. The thought of that reminded her that Sirius and she still hadn't moved.

"Sirius..." Becky whispered pointing to Miss Norris who was staring at the spot where both of them were standing. Just as he turned around Miss Norris made a deep growling type of noise, Filtch paused in his step. "Who's here?" He bellowed.

Becky squinted her eyes as she felt Sirius move closer to her. _Is that even possible?_ she thought.

"Mrs Norris, who's there?"

"Stupid cat" Sirius mumbled, it was so quiet as he'd said it. The only reason that she'd even heard it was because he was so close.

Miss Norris meowed again and stood on all fours, she flicked her tail in the air and started walking down the corridor. Filtch gave another look around the empty space and followed the cat muttering something about school not being tight enough on punishment.

"Pheeew..." Sirius breathed out and relaxed. He loosened his grip around Becky and she ran a hand through her hair, flushing. Sirius grinned at her from under the cloak, "What were you thinking?"

He started directing them back towards the Common Room and Becky protested, "It wasn't my fault! It was dark, okay..."

"You should've just gone to the dormitory then," Sirius teased, laughing.

"Well then I would've been alone," Becky said feebly, "At least in there I had Basil."

Sirius smirked, "Yes, I know about Basil."

Becky instantly remembered unfolding the letter she'd received from Sirius a few nights ago and then about all the letters over summer. Her face dropped, "Not funny."

"Oh, c'mon," Sirius chuckled and let the cloak fall over the faces as he poked her in the ribs. Becky nearly squealed but just stifled a giggle, making sure they didn't interrupt Filtch again.

"I repeat. Not funny."

"You owe me one," He whispered.

"Really?" Becky challenged. Sirius smirked and, dropping the cloak he was holding above with his hands, he started tickling her and generally flirting with her. Becky couldn't help giggling shrilly again but they were away from the incident at this point.

"Stop!" She pleaded out of breath. Sirius grinned more and replied, "I don't think so. Not until you're entirely in my debt!"

Becky stopped walking and doubled over, the Cloak showing both their feet. Sirius continued tickling her and Becky squirmed, but they were close to the Portrait Hole now.

"Okay, okay!" She laughed, "Sirius Black, I am completely and entirely in your debt!"

"And you'll do anything to repay me?" He smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Becky said and Sirius stopped.

"Hey," He said, eyes glinting. Becky looked up at him and realised how close they were under the cloak. She breathed in quickly and looked inquisitively at him. He smiled, "I know exactly what I want in return."

Becky looked at him and noticed the mischievous tone to his voice. Butterflies were dancing around in her stomach but most of her just wanted to run away from him right there. She laughed nervously, delaying the inevitable question. She couldn't help noticing he licked his lips.

"What?" She tried to make it sound light, uncaring but he saw through it.

"Would you consider yourself to be impulsive?"

"Uh-" She babbled nervously, "- Well, I don't really think about- I mean, I guess sometimes I- well I could be considered to-"

Sirius looked down at her and leaned forwards, slowly. Becky's breathing hitched and she could tell what was about to happen. He let the cloak drop over their heads again and rested his forehead against hers gently. Becky closed her eyes as she fizzed inside, not believing this was happening and she felt his lips press against hers.

Softly, sweetly and shortly. She knew from seeing him before with girls that he was a public kisser and by that she means experienced. But this wasn't like anything she'd imagined before – and yes, she had imagined it. It was like he actually meant it.

He broke away and looked at her. Becky felt so indifferent. She didn't know what to do and Sirius slowly smiled.

"Even?" He murmured.

Becky looked at him, her face still in shock and she didn't know what to say. She stepped out from under the Cloak and looked down. Sirius stayed hidden however as Becky couldn't see him. She looked at the floor and, without knowing what to say, she just turned on her heel and slowly walked back to the Portrait.

"Freezing Frogs," She muttered to the Fat Lady who had watched her appear from what must've seen like nowhere. She started bantering to Becky but she just ignored her and stepped through the Portrait Hole.

Sirius watched Becky leave him standing in the corridor and strangely felt really happy. He felt... exhilarated. It was weird, he'd never felt that before. It may've just been the sheer innocence of that tiny kiss that felt like a rocket exploding inside of him, or the fact that even when she walked away from him, no words said, he could tell that she was happy about it. Very happy.

He shook his head and then let the cloak fall off his head and shoulders, grabbing it with his hand. The Fat Lady watched in astonishment again and said, "I don't know what you're doing, but you better get back inside."

Sirius smiled and said, "Freezing Frogs." She let him in, tutting and scolding as he went but she was taunting too.

The Common Room was empty, and to Sirius's surprise, it was gone 11pm. He felt like just falling onto the sofa and smiling to himself for another few hours but knew that the rest of the Marauders would be waiting for him upstairs.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Remus pulling on a clean white shirt, Peter tucked up in bed and James doing some last-minute homework.

"Hi guys," He grinned and walked over to his bed. He sighed happily and flopped onto it. Remus and James exchanged looks.

"Pads..?" James asked, "What happened?"

Sirius grinned, "It was so amazing."

"That's not very explanatory," Remus said although he smiled to himself. Sirius sat up and looked at the two. He started to recount his story, about the Filtch incidence and then the chat back. He stopped after he got to, "...So we were stood outside..."

"And then..?" James trailed off, wondering.

"And then I kissed her," Sirius grinned. Remus's mouth fell open and James let the papers slide from his bed and onto the floor.

"_Really?_" James asked and Remus just continued staring. Sirius threw one of his pillows over to Remus, where it bounced off him. However, he quickly caught it and held onto it.

"Yes, really," He smirked and Remus threw it back, though not intending to hit him.

"I don't believe it." James said, picking up some of the papers that had drifted to the floor.

"Well it happened!" Sirius replied as he fell back into his mattress, "So how was it with Millie?"

Remus peered up from his novel, "I guess you're talking to me?"

James scoffed, "Is there anyone else in here that has a crush on her?"

"Well, Peter might" Sirius reasoned, all three of the guys turned to look at the round lump that was snoring, "Then again, I really don't think he'd have a chance."

Remus rolled his eyes, "It was fine."

"Just fine?" James asked, "Surely it was more than 'fine'. What did you do?"

"We talked," Remus responded boredly.

"About what?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you both do great impersonations of gossiping girls?" Remus said, shortly after two pillows were thrown in his direction, "Oi!"

"Well, come on mate, give us a bit more than that!" James laughed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't kiss and tell," Remus laughed, eyebrows raised, "Unlike you!" He directed to Sirius.

"So you _did_ kiss her!" Sirius grinned.

"Don't get excited," Remus said, "I couldn't just _kiss _her!"

"Why not?" Sirius asked, genuinely confused, "I did."

"Yes, but you're _Sirius_," Remus said, exasperated, "You can get any girl you want without hesitation and you can certainly just kiss a girl. I can't."

"Oh, come on Rem," Sirius reasoned, "Why ever not?"

"Because of my-" He lowered his voice, "- Furry little problem. Can I seriously have a relationship with that secret hidden?"

"Oh... come on Mooney," James put in a little awkwardly, "You shouldn't..."

"And Moony, I'm sure you could have any girl you want if you just had a bit more confidence, and after all, you are a Marauder" Sirius continued.

Remus laughed, "Who said i wanted any girl?"

James grinned, "You want Millie."

"But she doesn't want me..."

Sirius and James now swapped looks, speechless.

The next morning the only one who seemed to be in a good mood was Millie. They were all up and getting ready, Millie was sat by the mirror trying to get her fringe perfect while Becky had gone to the bathroom to wash her face. Lily instead was fully dressed and pretending to read a book. She was really regretting what she'd said last night.

"Lily, how long are you going to be not reading that book?" Millie asked cheerfully.

Lily blushed, "What? I am reading it..."

Millie raised an eyebrow but let it go, "So come on!"

"Excuse me?" Lily said utterly confused at what Millie was asking.

"What happened between you and James?"

Lily shrugged, "What happened between you and Remus?"

Millie bit her lip, "he was nice..."

"What do you mean by that?" Becky drawled tiredly as she was walking out from the bathroom.

Millie looked nervous for a second but then she smiled, "It was so lovely. He's so nice and, aw, he's just so cute!"

"Did you kiss?" Becky asked bluntly.

Millie went completely red, "No! Of course not, you know Remus he's really shy..."

Lily looked towards Becky who just blinked back, "What's up with both of you?"

Lily looked startled, "What do you mean?"

Millie sat down on the end of her bed, "well I'm saying what happened with Remus so, Becky what happened with Sirius?" As both gazes of Lily and Millie settled on Becky she began to feel very fidgety, she tried to control her moving and picked up a brush and started brushing her hair while talking. "Nothing, he didn't find me."

"I don't believe that." Millie mumbled, Becky heard it but she wasn't going to comment about it. Millie soon realizing Becky was going to stick to her story she moved on to Lily, "So, you and James?"

"Nothing really," Millie sighed over dramatically "He just told me that he was thinking about breaking up with Jenny."

"Then that's good!" Millie exclaimed excitedly. Becky rolled her eyes which Millie didn't see but Lily sent her a very plain look.

"No, it's not. I have no idea what I want!"

"Huh. Know that feeling." Becky said. She felt both eyes turn to her and fell silent, brushing the same strands of hair repeatedly until they became static.

"Right," Millie said and the attention was turned to her, "I'm going to explain everything to you in _full_ detail and because we're all best friends we're all going to do the same. And it's got to be the truth and it's got to be informative."

No one agreed with her, but she started anyway. It didn't exactly bore Becky and Lily but they both would've wanted to listen to something else rather than her babble on about the way Remus has, "Such a cute little hair flick – whenever it falls into his eyes he'd swish his head slightly and smooth his hair down!" or "His eyes. They're seriously so blue and intense..." and definitely not about his "cute butt!" She eventually finished and sat down, head in her hand.

"Okay, your turn!"

"Becky goes first-" Lily shouted whereas Becky shouted, "-Lily goes first." Both of the two girls turned to glare at each other, eventually Becky muttered, "We're going to be late."

"What's first?" Lily asked, Millie however laughed "Potions. Again."

While Millie practically skipped on two meters ahead of Becky and Lily the two other girls were walking slowly behind. "Why aren't you excited, its Potions..."

"Why aren't you excited you get to sit next to your favourite person." Lily returned.

Becky cringed, "Don't say stuff like that!"

"So, he did find you." Lily stated.

"Of course he did," Becky replied in a hushed tone.

"You're nothing to do with the armour being destroyed are you?"

Becky's eyes widened, "If I say 'no' will you believe me?"

"No," Lily smiled.

**Happy new year for all the readers – and thank you so much for continuing to follow, etc. We tried to get to 100,000 words (in all our stories combined) by the end of this year, but only got to 96,842... however, that's good as well! **


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